System and method for providing mobile alerts to members of a social network

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are presented for providing mobile alerts to members of a social network upon the occurrence of certain trigger events related to the social network, including member-trigger events, venue-trigger events, and other-trigger events. A member may select and edit their own mobile-alert settings that determine which events are trigger events. The member may enable or disable all their mobile alerts using a single action, such as toggling a digital button on their phone screen. A data processor receives indication of, or determines occurrence of, a trigger event. The data processor then determines whether to communicate a mobile alert to the member based on the member&#39;s mobile-alert settings. The alert may be communicated to the member&#39;s mobile communication device, such as a mobile phone, using a variety of convenient means, such as a text message or Push Notification.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application claims priority to U.S. provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 61/590,733, filed on Jan. 25, 2012, and this patentapplication is a continuation-in-part of and claims priority to U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/973,947, filed on Dec. 21, 2010, whichclaims priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No.61/313,132, filed on Mar. 12, 2010, and where U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/973,947 is a continuation-in-part of and claims priority toU.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/161,554, filed on Jul. 18, 2008, nowU.S. Pat. No. 7,856,360, issued Dec. 21, 2010, which is a U.S. nationalstage entry under 35 USC 371 of PCT application serial no.PCT/US2007/061328, filed on Jan. 30, 2007, which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/307,262,filed on Jan. 30, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,788,188, issued Aug. 31,2010, and where PCT application serial no. PCT/US2007/061328 also claimspriority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/823,573,filed on Aug. 25, 2006.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The field of this invention is providing services to venues.

BACKGROUND

MoSoSo (short for “mobile social software”) has become a recentphenomenon for social networking. The efforts are primarily directed toeither meeting new people or providing a simplified method for keepingtrack of acquaintances. Various approaches are employed using individualterminology and somewhat different protocols. Some of the existingapproaches are concerned with the manner of introducing people to eachother.

For example, Mobido™ (www.mobido.com) collects photographs of membersand can provide the photograph to another member under certainrestricted circumstances. It also provides for individuals or businessesto be contacted through the use of “tags.”

Wave Market promotes StreetHive™ (www.streethive.com) which providessocial networking and location tagging between friends. It allows peopleto know where others are and to contact such people.

Dodgeball™ (www.dodgeball.com) provides another social cell phonecapability, where you can communicate with groups of friends. It alsoprovides addresses of venues.

There are a number of other groups that provide for similar servicesthat can be found at www.zogo.com, www.meetro.com, www.plazes.com,www.bedd.com, www.smallplanet.com, www.sixsense.com, www.jambo.net,www.mobiluck.com, www.icontact.com, www.imahima.com, www.proxpro.com,www.ravewireless.com, www.intercastingcorp.com, www.loopt.com,www.jaiku.com and www.satelx.com.

For the most part the MoSoSo capabilities are primarily for the users ofthe system to allow for meeting people and locating a defined group ofpeople. They do not concern themselves with providing opportunities forbusinesses to direct their communications to likely patrons. Rather,their attention is directed to the individual subscribers and lookingfor points of similarity between the subscribers to bring one subscriberto the attention of another.

There is substantial interest in providing venues, where people performindividual transactions, with information that allows them to attractclientele to their venue based on the traits, behavior and demographicsof people at the venue and the desired traits, behavior and demographicsthat the venue wishes to achieve. By demographics is meant a statisticconcerning a selected population, often a population where each personpossesses the same trait or traits. Systems and methods are valuablethat empower the venues to compete for desirable clientele based onreliable information about potential clientele and provide for efficientuse of the venue's resources, while enabling the client to select avenue based on current information, including promotions, regarding thevenue.

RELEVANT LITERATURE

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SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One embodiment of the subject invention provides a system for providinga service to venues where people aggregate. Another embodiment of thesubject invention provides a system for providing a service to venueswhere people perform individual transactions. The system provides amobile promotion system for advertisement and offers, collectivelyreferred to as promotions. The system is also capable of providing aservice to sponsors, where venues and sponsors are collectively referredto here as “promoters.” A system data processor can receive promotionsfrom promoters wanting the attention of members, particularly members ata desired location, and, optionally using instructions from suchpromoters, can forward the promotions to members of the system. Suchinstructions may comprise directions for how a particular promotionshould be directed to members of a desired demographic group, a memberpossessing a desired trait or a member exhibiting a desired behavior,any of who are at a desired location.

The system includes a number of parameters which, depending upon theparticular service, may share a plurality of the parameters. Among theparameters is the ability to identify the location of a person and atransaction between such person and a venue. Another parameter providesfor social networking. Depending upon the application of the system,several of the parameters will be employed together. Transactionstypically involve (1) a purchase transaction using an electronictransaction, such as a credit, debit or charge transaction, or (2) aredemption transaction for the redemption of an offer.

One parameter involves information concerning the traits, behaviors ordemographics of people who attend the venues. Such information will beof interest to some of the venues and people. In all cases, the peopleare members of an organization, such as HoozwaresM, interested in thepresence of the members at the venues. The organization uses a systemdata processor that receives location information and processes andprovides organization information to the members and in someapplications to the venues. The venues have characteristics orpromotions of interest to the members, and which may be provided to themembers with organization information.

The system includes at least (1) mobile communication devices ofmembers, and (2) a system data processor having data comprising locationand optionally traits of people who are members of the organization. Thesystem data processor can be a computer server and typically includes atleast a system microprocessor and system computer memory and either hasor has access to a system database of information. The system dataprocessor can be a cloud computing system. The system data processorprovides member-intended information to be viewed on mobilecommunication devices of members, where the member-intended informationcomprises characteristics and/or promotions of the venue(s). Inaddition, the system data processor can also include trait and behaviorinformation of members, location information received from the mobilecommunication devices or venues, and can include characteristicinformation concerning the venues. Location information is obtained byvirtue of an action by a member; although the mobile communicationdevices may comprise global positioning system (GPS) capability toprovide location information. The system data processor can process theinformation present in the system computer memory and system databaseand provide venue-intended information that may include traitinformation, behavior information, and demographics of the members ornon-members; and/or member-intended information that may include inaddition to the other information indicated above, characteristicinformation and promotions relating to venues. The system data processorcan also serve to receive (1) information from the venues, such ascharacteristic information and promotions, and (2) information from themembers, such as location information and characteristic information.The system data processor may also help facilitate communication betweenmembers.

Typically the system data processor stores information concerningtraits, behaviors and demographics of the members, venuecharacteristics, and other information, in a system database. In oneapplication, the subject invention has applicability where a memberperforms an action at a primary venue, and the primary venue orsecondary venues may have an interest in providing characteristicsand/or promotions to the member at the primary venue. The organizationwill have a commercial relationship with at least one of the venues.This application is not directed to social networking and is based oninformation received from the member or a third party. The member may beat the primary venue to purchase a product or redeem an offer providedby the organization on behalf of a venue.

In the case of a product purchase, when the member makes a purchasetransaction, such as an electronic transaction using a debit card,credit card, charge card, PayPal®, Google Pay®, a mobile phone, and thelike, the organization can have a relationship with the entity governingthe purchase transaction, referred to here as the purchase-transactionentity, whereby the purchase-transaction entity will promptly providethe location information of the purchase transaction, and optionally thenature of the purchase, to the organization. The purchase-transactionentity will provide the vehicle by which the purchase transaction isaccomplished. Typically, when permission is granted by the member, thepurchase-transaction entity provides the organization with a memberidentifier, or member ID code, for the member that is associated withthe purchase transaction.

In the case where the member is redeeming an offer, the offer will bedisplayed on the member's mobile communication device. The offer willinclude the particular venue at which the redemption is to occur, orwhen there is a related chain of venues, provide coding to indicate atwhich of the venues of the related chain the redemption is to occur.When the member redeems the offer in accordance with the organization'sprotocol, the data processor will determine or infer the locationinformation of the member by virtue of knowing at which venue theredemption occurred and knowing the location of that venue. Once thesystem data processor has determined the location information of themember, promotions or characteristics of the primary and/or secondaryvenues can be viewed using the member's mobile communication device. Insome instances the mobile communication device may have GPS capability,and with the permission of the member, upon the occurrence of atransaction, for example as notified by the purchase-transaction entity(or other transaction entity), location information will be retrieved bythe system data processor from the mobile communication device havingGPS capability.

The organization's redemption protocol may include any convenientredemption protocol. The redemption protocol may include the memberviewing a promotion on their mobile phone and showing the promotion ontheir phone to a venue representative. Optionally, the member may make aselection on their phone indicating that they wish to redeem thepromotion, or the member may send indication of their desire to redeemthe promotion to a venue representative. The member may then need toshow or send the redeemed promotion on their phone to the venuerepresentative, or may be requested to select another option on theirphone to verify the redemption. Such a verification step may cause amessage to be sent to the venue or the venue representative, includingthe venue representative's mobile phone. Alternatively, to redeem apromotion, the member may show their mobile phone to a venuerepresentative, where the mobile phone may display a code, such as a barcode, that the venue representative scans in order to redeem thepromotion or otherwise perform a transaction.

In effect, the data processor can receive the location information in avariety of ways, including: (1) the location information is transferredto the data processor by virtue of a purchase transaction, such as anelectronic transaction, by a purchase-transaction entity; (2) thelocation information is determined by virtue of the offer redemptiontransaction, such as at a venue of a known location, by aredemption-transaction entity; or (3) the location information isretrieved from a mobile communication device having GPS capability. Boththe purchase transaction and redemption transaction are transactions,and the purchase-transaction entity and the redemption-transactionentity are transaction entities. The organization can be a transactionentity.

Location information typically includes both “when” and “where” relatedto a transaction. Different transaction entities provide locationinformation with different temporal and positional resolutions andaccuracies. Transaction entity policy, as well as technical reasons, maybe responsible for a particular resolution employed or resulting accuracy.

Location information typically comprises a narrow range of time (i.e.,timeframe) for a transaction and a narrow vicinity of location of amember initiating, performing or otherwise related to the transaction. Anarrow range of time may include within the last second, within the pastminute, within the past 5 minutes, within the past 15 minutes, withinthe past half hour, within the past hour, within the past two hours, andthe like. A narrow vicinity may include any of the following, or aradius from any of the following: a latitude and longitude; a name of avenue such as a department store, specialty store, grocery store,restaurant or bar; the name of a group of venues; the name of aneighborhood; the name of an intersection; a range of streets providinga bounding; the name of a shopping center; the name of an airport orother transit station; the name of a park; the name of a public place;the name of a landmark; and the like. The choice of radius depends onwhether walking or driving distance is desired. For walking, aconvenient radius is from a few feet to a mile. For driving, aconvenient radius is from a few feet to 30 miles.

A computer program running on the system data processor can use thelocation and trait information of members to determine the demographicsof members, including the number of members at the venues, andoptionally estimate the demographics of attendees (i.e., includingnon-members) at the venues. The computer program may also determine thedemographics of members, and estimate the demographics of people, in thevicinity of the venues. The computer program may also predict, based onthe number of members using the system, how many people may soon arriveto a venue.

The system of the subject invention applies generally to any venue wherepeople assemble or goods are sold, such as department stores,supermarkets, stores at malls, night clubs, restaurants, bars, etc.,that is, places where people go to obtain goods, usually purchase goodsand places associated with groups of people who typically don't knoweach other and are interested in an enjoyable experience that may beassociated with shopping, eating or entertainment. To clarify how thesubject invention may be practiced, the description below will primarilyfocus on two embodiments: one where the venue is where goods are soldand the other where the venue is for socializing and entertainment.

The system of the subject invention is referred to here as the“Hoozware^(SM)” system, a play on the phrase, “Who's where?”“Hoozware^(SM)”, “Hoozware?^(SM)”, “H?^(SM)”, “Hoozware . . . so youknow who's where.^(SM)” and “Hoozware . . . who's where, what'shappening, right now!^(SM)” are all service marks of Hoozware, Inc. TheHoozware system is a service which helps promoters target advertisementsto specific desired clientele who are members of the Hoozware system.Members of the Hoozware system in turn are encouraged to use theHoozware system in order to receive rewards, including: financialrewards from the organization, which in this case is the operator of theHoozware system, rewards such as promotions from promoters and receivinginformation regarding the characteristics of the venues.

In the case of a venue for the transfer of goods, the member willgenerally be present at the venue to obtain goods, by purchase and/or byredemption of a promotional coupon. The venue at which the member ispresent or other venues in the vicinity have the opportunity to informthe member of promotions. Since the member will usually be shopping, thepromotion has a greater likelihood of being acted upon than anadvertisement in a newspaper or other promotion distant from the venue.

In the case of a venue for socializing and entertainment, such as anightclub, much of the information comes in real time from other membersof the Hoozware system who are attending, or recently attended, thevenue. The Hoozware system helps the managers efficiently andeffectively determine which members fit the profile of clientele theyseek to entice to their establishment at a particular moment in time.The Hoozware system also helps its members efficiently use their time todetermine which venue has the atmosphere, music, crowd, etc., theydesire at a particular moment in time. Hotels could provide their hotelguests with a “guest” membership to the Hoozware system to use whilethey're staying at the hotel to aid their guests in efficiently usingtheir time to find a local hot spot to hang out at after they'vefinished with their business for the day.

Members can be incentivized to provide their location information to thesystem data processor by checking in at the venue using their mobilephone. An example incentive is qualification to participate in a game,including a game of chance. The game may be against a computer,including a program running on the mobile phone or the Hoozware server.The game may also be against other people, including other members. Inone example, after checking in, a simulated roulette wheel can bepresented on the phone display, where the member may press a key toinitiate the spin and determine whether s/he receives a prize, e.g., a2-for-1 drink or even a free drink. Another exemplary game is a “shellgame” game of chance where there are four shells, or even four drinkshakers, displayed. The member selects one of the shakers which causesit, or up to all the shakers, to be raised on the display showing whatis virtually beneath them. If beneath the selected shaker is a fulldrink glass, the member wins. Underneath “non-winning shakers” an emptyglass may be displayed. Limiting the time in which the prize can beredeemed by the member at the venue ensures that the member is checkedin at the venue prior to playing the game. Depending upon the nature ofthe venue, different scenarios can be employed for the game.

The Hoozware system helps a promoter find answers to one or more of thefollowing questions and contact relevant members with promotions: (1)Who is currently at other venues; (2) who is in the vicinity; (3) who isout now who was previously at their venue; (4) who has not already beento their venue; (5) who likes the type of goods or entertainment,including type of music, that their venue is offering; and the like.

The Hoozware system relies largely on Hoozware system members forautomatically and voluntarily providing data which are compiled by theHoozware system and used by the promoters to address desired customers,and used by other Hoozware system members to determine desirable venuedestinations. For goods-selling venues, one way to locate a member is bythe member performing a transaction. The transaction may be a purchasetransaction, such as an electronic transaction, where the cost may bepaid through a third party, or the transaction may be a redemption of acoupon using the member's mobile phone, which coupon is provided byHoozware on behalf of a promoter. In the case where the cost is paidthrough a third party, the third party can have an agreement withHoozware to notify Hoozware of the location of the transaction of theHoozware member.

A first important example of the subject invention includes a systemcomprising a network of venues and an organization communicating withthe venues, the organization having people as members, the venues havingpromotions or characteristics of interest to the members, wherein when amember transacts a transaction at a venue, the location and time of thetransaction is communicated to the organization, the system comprising:mobile communication devices of the members; a system data processorhaving data comprising: (A) member and venue information; (B) locationinformation received by the data processor in the timeframe of thetransaction, the location information comprising the location and timeof the transaction; and (C) the characteristics or promotion of at leastone venue; wherein when the transaction is transacted the locationinformation is transmitted from the site of the venue to the dataprocessor; the data processor transmits the location information to atleast one venue or the data processor has previous instructions from theat least one venue as to whom should receive characteristic or promotioninformation; the at least one venue may transmit characteristic orpromotion information based on the location information to the dataprocessor or may transmit characteristic or promotion information priorto receipt of the location information; and the data processor transmitsthe characteristic or promotion information received from the at leastone venue to the mobile communication device.

A second important example of the subject invention includes a systemfor providing a service to promoters associated with an organizationhaving people as members, the promoters having characteristics orpromotions of interest to the members, the system comprising: mobilecommunication devices of the members; a system data processor havingsystem data comprising: (A) location information as a result of atransaction of a member at a venue; and (B) the characteristics or thepromotions; and the system data processor processing and providing amember member-intended information comprising at least a portion of thecharacteristics or the promotions.

This second important example includes a number of important variations,including:

1. wherein the location information includes a narrow range of time forthe transaction;

2. wherein the location information includes a narrow vicinity oflocation;

3. wherein the mobile communication device of the member hasposition-sensing capability and at the time of the transaction providesthe location information; and optionally (i) wherein the locationinformation includes the location of the member, or (ii) wherein theposition-sensing capability employs at least one of GPS, A-GPS,cell-towers, WiFi access points, WiMAX and IP addresses;

4. wherein the member-intended information is viewable on the mobilecommunication device of a member;

5. wherein at least a portion of the traits, behaviors or demographicsof people who attend the venue is provided to the promoter;

6. wherein the promoter is associated with the venue;

7. wherein the promoter is not associated with the venue;

8. wherein a transaction entity provides (A) the location information tothe system data processor, and optionally the system data processorrefines the location information, or (B) the transaction occurrence timewhen the transaction occurs, wherein the mobile communication device ofthe member provides the location information associated with thetransaction occurrence time to the system data processor, and whereinthe mobile communication device receives the location information fromat least one of (a) position-sensing capability, (b) data provided bythe member and (c) another organization; and optionally (i) wherein theanother organization determines the location information fromposition-sensing capability associated with the mobile communicationdevice or from data provided by the member, (ii) wherein theposition-sensing capability is associated with the mobile communicationdevice, (iii) wherein the transaction is a redemption transaction or apurchase transaction, (iv) wherein the transaction entity is theorganization, or (v) wherein the location information comprises at leastone of (a) latitude and longitude, (b) a code, (c) Zipcode, (d) name ofthe venue and (e) location center and radius;

9. wherein the transaction is a redemption, and the system dataprocessor determines the location information from the location of thevenue where the redemption occurs;

10. wherein the transaction is a purchase transaction and a purchasetransaction entity provides the location information to the system dataprocessor; and

11. wherein the transaction is a purchase transaction, a purchasetransaction entity notifies the system data processor of the purchasetransaction, and the mobile communication device having theposition-sensing capability provides the location information to thesystem data processor.

For socializing and entertainment, members can “opt in” to the Hoozwaresystem by signing up with Hoozware to use the web version or by loadingHoozware system software onto their mobile telephone, which may beGPS-capable and sometimes simply referred to here as their “GPS mobilephone”. In brief, the Hoozware system records the location of itsmembers and compiles data and statistics about the members that areattending each venue and makes the data and statistics available to thevenue managers and optionally to other members.

Data provided by members of the Hoozware system are sent to a Hoozwaresystem server computer using the member's mobile phones. When a memberwith a GPS mobile phone selectively provides to the Hoozware systemserver the GPS location of their mobile phone, the location is alsoassumed to be the location of the member. The Hoozware system serverruns a computer program with a computer algorithm which compares eachmember's updated variable position to the known fixed position of eachvenue, which for example, is a nightclub. The computer program mayclassify a member as: a nightclub candidate, in proximity to anightclub, on the way to a nightclub, at a nightclub, etc. Suchclassification may be used by nightclub managers to determine whichtargeted advertisement to send to the member. Such advertisements aresent by the nightclub manager to the Hoozware system which then directsthe advertisement message to the desired member's mobile phone or theiraccount.

A member might be classified by their location (such as if they're in aparticular neighborhood or restaurant), proximity to other members, theday of the week and time of day, as well as their previous venue historyor previous pre-venue activity, to be a “venue candidate.” If persistentGPS location information is provided by a member in order to to tracktheir particular route or trajectory, a member might be classified as“on the way to a venue.” By using the GPS location information of amember to track their trajectory to a venue and then observing that theGPS signal disappeared while the member's GPS mobile phone is stillturned on, the member might be classified as “inside a venue.”

A Hoozware system member's GPS mobile phone may persistently submittheir position to the Hoozware system server for behavior analysis andcomparison with venue locations. Alternately, a member might allow theirposition information only to be sent to the server at specific times.

In one application, a member is only permitted to inquire aboutnightclubs and other members at nightclubs during the time when theirown information is provided to the Hoozware system server, thusencouraging members to make their own information known as much aspossible. For instance, for privacy reasons, a member might restrictthat their position information only be provided to the Hoozware systemserver on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.the following morning. In this case, the member would only be allowed toinquire and access statistics of other Hoozware system members andnightclub characteristics during that same timeframe to see where thehot nightclubs are located. In another scenario, a member might restricttheir position information to be updated Tuesdays through Saturdaysbetween the hours of 3:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. In this case, the memberwould be allowed to inquire and access statistics of other Hoozwaresystem members and nightclubs (or bars) to additionally know whichvenues are the hot happy hour locations. In another scenario, a member'sposition information may be sent to the Hoozware system server for aperiod of time after they have done a nightclub search.

Promoters may place general or highly targeted advertisements with theHoozware system to be forwarded to members of the Hoozware system,either asynchronously, or at strategic times, such as when the Hoozwaresystem member is requesting information on other Hoozware system membersor a venue or product, or the Hoozware system otherwise determines thatthe member is a “venue or product candidate.” Members typically viewsuch ads visually and/or aurally on their mobile phone, but members mayalso receive such ads via email to their home computer, postal mail totheir physical address, or any other way people receive advertisements.For instance, the Hoozware system may inform one or more nightclubs thatthe Hoozware system has classified a member as a “nightclub candidate.”A nightclub that the Hoozware system informs of the candidate mayrequest that the Hoozware system forward an advertisement to theHoozware system member, with an “offer number,” such that if the memberarrives at their nightclub by a particular time and presents the offernumber they will receive a reward, such as a discounted cover charge ordrink special, etc. Thus, a nightclub can place real-time, highlytargeted and focused ads with the Hoozware system, which ads may, forexample, be based on whether or not the nightclub is behind itsattendance or drink revenue quota at a particular time. The Hoozwaresystem may also allow a nightclub to post and advertise the nightclub'swebsite, phone number or other marketing information provided by thenightclub.

The Hoozware system may also provide statistics on the Hoozware systemmembers to taxicab companies and to other organizations interested inknowing the temporal movement patterns of the Hoozware system members.In this way, taxis might adjust where to sit at particular times onparticular nights according to the crowds on hand. Hoozware systemmembers detected as leaving a nightclub may be queried, through theHoozware system, whether they need a taxi. If so, the Hoozware systemmay find a taxi for them and receive a financial benefit from either thetaxi service or the member as a service fee.

Hoozware system members may elect to be notified when their desiredcrowd demographics or nightclub characteristics, including atmosphere,band, etc., for one or more nightclubs change. For instance, if thepercentage of single women at a first nightclub that a male Hoozwaresystem member is attending drops below 40%, while the percentage at asecond nightclub in the area moves above 60%, the Hoozware system maysend the male member a text message (or any other effectivenotification) alerting him to that fact. The Hoozware system may alsoinform the second nightclub of the male member's desired characteristicsand suggest that the second nightclub send the male member a specialoffer through the Hoozware system to entice him to switch nightclubs.For example, the second nightclub may then send him a targeted messageasking him if he'd like a taxi, a reduced cover charge and drink specialto switch from the first nightclub to the second nightclub. The Hoozwaresystem may also inform the first nightclub of the male member's desiredcharacteristics and suggest that the first nightclub send the malemember a special offer though the Hoozware system to entice him to stay.Accordingly, the Hoozware system may include features for nightclubs to,in effect, set up bidding wars for clientele. For example, a nightclubthat a Hoozware system member is not attending may be encouraged to senda special offer to the Hoozware system member to lure him or her away.Similarly, the nightclub that the Hoozware system member is presently atmay be encouraged to offer the Hoozware system member specials, such asdrink discounts, to encourage him or her to stay at their nightclub.

Dictionary.com defines “demographic” as “of or relating to demography;‘demographic surveys’ n: a statistic characterizing human populations(or segments of human populations broken down by age or sex or incomeetc.).”

Thus, the Hoozware system presents useful summary numbers in usefulcategories to its members. Rather than merely listing people present ata venue along with all their traits and requiring a receiving member todigest the data, the Hoozware system processes the traits of thosepeople present at a venue and presents a summary of the informationwhich may include desired category statistics, i.e., demographics. Forexample, rather than just providing the following data for memberspresent at a venue: Bill, male, 25; Amy, female, 31; Jill, female, 29;the Hoozware system may provide the following data: 3 members present;66% female/33% male; 66% of members in age range 25-29; 50% of femalesin age range 25-29.

The Hoozware system may allow a particular member to register with theHoozware system or with a particular nightclub as a “preferredcustomer.” For instance, a heavy drinker, or beautiful woman, may beregistered as a preferred customer by a nightclub. Such registrationallows the nightclub to be alerted when the preferred customer is nearbyand so the nightclub may send them a special targeted incentive, via theHoozware system, to encourage the preferred customer to come to theirnightclub.

Much has been described thus far regarding the services that theHoozware system can provide to a venue, such as a nightclub. However,the Hoozware system can provide more value to a nightclub as the memberbase and amount and quality of data provided by the members of theHoozware system increase. Thus, the Hoozware system may provide rewardincentives to encourage people with GPS mobile phones to: opt into theHoozware system, make their location known to the Hoozware system serverfor as long as possible, provide their personal data, post usefulinformation regarding nightclubs they are attending or recentlyattended, etc. Exemplary reward incentives which may be provided toHoozware system members are described below.

Hoozware system members may be rewarded, financially or otherwise, forcontributing information. For instance, Hoozware system members may berewarded more if they permit their GPS mobile phone to update theirposition more time throughout the week. Other rewardable contributionsmay include: confirming that they've entered a particular nightclub;posting their personal data; frequency of use of the Hoozware system;posting of comments, photos, movie/video clips, audio clips, voicemails,emails, and the like from the nightclub, etc. Hoozware system membersmay receive more rewards based on the quality of their postings,according to amount of use or ratings as determined by inquiringHoozware system members, or as determined by other means. Rewards mayinclude sharing of Hoozware system financial profits. In this way, theHoozware system is a co-op, where the most loyal, contributing membersreceive the most rewards. Other rewards may include incentives offeredby the nightclubs, discounted phone bills, airline miles, store credits,drink specials, cover charge specials, Hoozware system honors, and thelike.

As mentioned previously, the Hoozware system tracks the position of itsmembers and compiles statistics and demographic information about themembers that are attending nightclubs. The Hoozware system makes certaininformation and statistics about the members available, either directlyor indirectly, to the nightclubs, in addition to other Hoozware systemmembers. For example, using the GPS location of its members, theHoozware system computer program running on the Hoozware system serverdetermines whether or not to classify a member as attending one of thenightclubs at a point in time. Other Hoozware system members may thenreceive information informing them of the number of members inattendance at each nightclub (i.e., the minimum number of people there)and even an estimate of the total number of people in attendance, whichadditionally accounts for non-Hoozware system members.

Hoozware system members can use the Hoozware system to determine beforegoing out for the evening, or even while in attendance at one nightclub,which other nightclub has a “desirable crowd.” At minimum, an “inquiringmember” can receive from the Hoozware system the number of people knownto be in attendance at each nightclub. Typically, if the inquiringmember has provided their own demographic information they can alsoreceive a compilation of similar demographic information of the crowd ateach nightclub. Under certain circumstances, a member may also beallowed to “drill down” and review more detailed information related tothe personal profile of a particular Hoozware system member, where thepersonal profile includes personal data.

Members using the Hoozware system to help them determine which nightclubto attend may receive characteristics about the nightclubs, as well as,information about the crowds in attendance at the nightclubs, includingcrowd sizes, other demographics, attendee photos, attendee videos, andthe like. Hoozware system members may also use their mobile phone, PDA,home computer, etc., to post their own comments about a club they'reattending or attended recently. Hoozware system members may also postgeotagged data for a nightclub (that is, data associated with thegeographical location of a particular nightclub), including photos,movie/video clips from the nightclub, sound clips (e.g., of the DJ,band, sound system, etc.), and the like, which helps other members toget a better sense of the nightclub atmosphere, the type of music beingplayed, the type of clientele in attendance, the lighting, and the like.

Members may inquire and receive information about the nightclubs intextual form, graphical form, auditory form, or a combination. In oneembodiment, a Hoozware system member launches the Hoozware systemapplication on their GPS mobile phone. They may narrow the nightclubsearch space by selecting a desired city, with an optional searchradius. Alternately, they could narrow a nightclub search space bydefining a geographical search space using landmarks, such as streets,bridges, rivers, buildings, county lines, state lines, other geotaggedobjects and the like, or distances from such landmarks. Hoozware systemmembers may direct their nightclub search by listing in decreasing orderof preference, or listing with weighting factors, what they feel mostimportant to them when searching for a desired nightclub at that time.For instance, as the most preferred search criterion, a member mightrequest a nightclub with the most people; as a second preferred searchcriterion a member might request the highest ratio of singleheterosexual women to men; as a third preferred search criterion amember might request the average age to be 25-29; as a fourth preferredsearch criterion a member might request a live band; and as a fifthpreferred search criterion a member might want the club to be within afive mile radius of where he or she is having dinner

The computer program with computer algorithm running on the Hoozwaresystem server digests data about each nightclub, including data providedby other Hoozware system members, data provided by the nightclub itself(such as whether they have a live band), and data available from othersources, and ranks the nightclubs in the member's selected search spacebased on the preferential criteria defined by the member (such asprovided by the example in the previous paragraph). In one embodiment,if a Hoozware system inquiring member specified a particular city as thedesired search space, a graphical map appears on the inquiring member'sGPS mobile phone display with icons located on the map representingnightclubs. The nightclub scoring the highest rank by the Hoozwaresystem server may be displayed with a red color (i.e., “hot!”); the nexthighest rank may be displayed in a color closer to orange; etc.; withthe lowest ranking nightclub being displayed with a blue color (i.e.,“cold.”). The map may be zoomed and scrolled to provide more detailedinformation about a particular nightclub. As an alternative to, or incombination with the map-based display, a text-based list of nightclubswith score ranking may be displayed. A particular nightclub may also bespecifically selected by the inquiring member in order to receive moredetails about that nightclub. An example of specific details that aninquiring Hoozware system member might receive is: (1) 347 Hoozwaresystem members; 412 total estimated attendees; (2) 63% singleheterosexual women; (3) 28 years average age; (4) 80's cover bandstarted at 10:00 p.m. and (5) 3.7 miles away; approximately 10 minutesby taxi.

The total number of attendees may be determined by a variety ofestimation methods. By estimation, it is intended that from a knownmeasurement, a calculated value is obtained based on an algorithm. Forinstance, if previously the total number of attendees at a nightclub wascounted by the nightclub, or by another organization, and compared withthe number of Hoozware system members at that nightclub to establish aratio (total attendees/number of members), then that same ratio could beapplied to (multiplied by) the number of Hoozware system members onanother night to estimate the total number of nightclub attendees. Thissame technique could similarly be applied to estimate other totals for anightclub, such as the total number of single women, the ratio of womento men, etc.

Hoozware system members may define different desirable “mood” profiles,where depending on the member's mood, they may specify differentnightclub rankings. For instance, a male Hoozware system member mightdefine his default mood as “Meeting women,” which specifies the mostpreferred search criterion as “The largest percentage of singlefemales,” and a second preferred search criterion as “Hip hop Di.” Themember might define a second mood profile as “Hanging with the boys,”with the most preferred search criterion as “Drink specials,” and thesecond preferred search criterion as “Pool table.”

The computer algorithm that ranks the nightclubs for each member mayemploy search and ranking algorithms, such as provided by companies likeGoogle, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Ask Jeeves, and the like. The computeralgorithm may also employ classification algorithms, including but notlimited to statistical classification techniques (including BayesianDecision Theory, etc.), vector quantizers, neural network algorithms,other Computer Science search and ranking algorithms, and the like.

Typical inputs to the computer algorithm include data such as: membertraits, nightclub demographics and nightclub characteristics. Membertraits are personal features, beliefs, lifestyles, etc. of a member thatare typically either inherited or chosen by the member. Member traitstypically comprise: age, sex, sexual orientation and preference,education, race, religion, smoker/non-smoker, marital status (e.g.,single/married/committed/divorced), parental status, financial status,occupation, home zip code, political affiliation, pictures, both directand anonymous contact information, friend status, group status, as wellas other online dating categories including physical attributes (e.g.,height, weight, eye color, hair color, balding, body type, etc.), etc.

Nightclub demographics comprise statistics of the member population at anightclub. The nightclub demographics typically comprise: the number ofmembers in attendance at a nightclub, the number of members plusestimated non-members in attendance, as well as, statistics of the traitcategories of the members, where the statistics may include the numberand percentage of members possessing a particular trait.

Nightclub characteristics are features, rules, etc. that an attendee mayfind important, attractive or objectionable about a nightclub, otherthan aspects directly attributable to the other clientele in attendance.Nightclub characteristics typically comprise: location, type of music(e.g., radio, CD, DJ, band, etc.), genre of music (e.g., rock,classical, country, jazz, easy listening, 70's, 80's, 90's, etc.),atmosphere (subjective coolness, romantic/not romantic, lighted/dark,clear/smoky/hazy, loud/quiet, cold/hot, cramped/open, etc.), covercharge/no cover charge, attire (e.g., casual, business casual, formal,etc.), expensive/cheap, drinks/food available, drink specials, pooltable, dancing/no dancing, coat check, closing time, website,member-supplied postings (e.g., text ratings and comments/photos/audioclips/video clips, estimated number of attendees, estimated age range,estimated ratio of women to men), etc.

The data input to the computer algorithm may include weighting factors.The weighting factors may be set by the member to indicate the relativeimportance of a portion of the data. The weighting factors may also beset automatically, for example, based on how old the member postingsare.

To assist nightclubs to efficiently target members to whom to send theirpromotions, the Hoozware system server (a.k.a., data processor,computer) tracks member behaviors. Member behaviors typically comprise:prior types of accepted promotions, spending habits, drinking habits,venue attendance habits (e.g., the venue the member is at now, venuesthe member frequents), temporal habits, parking habits (e.g., where themember parks before going to a venue), walking habits (e.g., the paththe member takes in going to a venue), where the member eats beforegoing to a venue, types of products the member buys, number of rewardspoints, particular venue or Hoozware premier status, Hoozware memberusage frequency, etc.

To help a member classify their various inclinations, the Hoozwaresystem allows members to define “moods” or select previously definedmoods. Typical mood categories comprise: prowl, ladies/guys night,rowdy, quiet, dance, drink, pool, chat, live music, comedy, happy hour,sports, drag, etc. Members typically define their moods by logging intothe Hoozware system server from their home computer; although, some moodfunctionality may be accessed using their mobile phone. When defining amood, a member typically selects nightclub attendee demographics andtraits and nightclub characteristics, typically using a set of drop-downboxes, radio buttons, and the like. Additionally, the member may usedrop-down boxes or fill-in boxes to enter weighting factors for each ofthe selected demographics, traits and characteristics. If no weightingfactors are entered, the Hoozware system server typically uses defaultweightings, such as equal weighting, for each demographic, trait andcharacteristic. For instance, a male member may define his “prowl” moodto include and highly weight the demographic categories covering thenumber of non-committed women between the ages of 25 and 35. His prowlmood may also assign a lower weighting to dancing as a nightclubcharacteristic. A woman member might define her “chat” mood to includeand equally weight a demographic preference for few men andcharacteristics of quiet country music, no cover and cheap drinks.

When a nightclub (or in general, a “promoter,” which is used here toinclude “venues” and “sponsors”) wants to send a promotion to a member,the nightclub may access the Hoozware system server (typically bylogging into the Hoozware website from an office computer) and specifywhich promotion they would like to be sent to a subset of members whichis associated with one or more desired demographics or which exhibits adesired behavior.

When a member is trying to decide which nightclub (or in general, whichvenue) to attend, they may access the Hoozware system server, typicallyusing their mobile phone. A member may communicate with the Hoozwaresystem server using a WAP or other mobile browser, SMS (short messageservice) or MMS (multimedia messaging service), emailing, running acustom Hoozware application on their mobile phone (which may includeJAVA, or be written for or using BREW, Symbian, RIM, Microsoft, WindowsCE, Palm, EPOC, FLEXOS, OS/9, JavaOS, etc.), and the like. When theHoozware system server receives a member request for a list ofnightclubs that best match the member's selected “mood,” the serverperforms the search calculation and returns the nightclub list, alongwith detailed nightclub demographics and characteristic information forthe member to view. Typically, along with the ordered nightclub list,the Hoozware system server will also return relevant nightclub orsponsor promotions to the member.

Present GPS technology used in mobile phones requires line-of-sightcommunication with multiple satellites. Accordingly, when a Hoozwaresystem member enters a nightclub typically their GPS signal will belost. When a Hoozware system member's GPS signal disappears, thecomputer algorithm of the Hoozware system server decides what happenedto the Hoozware system member. For example, if the Hoozware systemserver can no longer communicate with the member's GPS mobile phone, thecomputer algorithm running on the server might determine that the mobilephone was turned off. If the Hoozware system server can stillcommunicate with the member's GPS mobile phone but the GPS mobile phonecan't provide position information, the computer algorithm running onthe server might hypothesize that the member has walked inside abuilding. At that point, the computer algorithm running on the Hoozwaresystem server might extrapolate, or otherwise estimate, using previousposition data points in time, as well as any other relevant dataavailable (such as previous history or patterns of behavior), whetherthe Hoozware system member was walking toward the entrance of anightclub when the member's GPS position information disappeared suchthat the member should be classified as being in that nightclub. Whenthe computer algorithm running on the Hoozware system server estimatesthat a member has entered a particular nightclub, it may send a query tothe member asking them if indeed they are in the classified nightclub.The Hoozware system member may respond with Yes or No, may provide analternate location, or may provide another response. If the computeralgorithm running on the Hoozware system server receives an affirmativeresponse from the Hoozware system member, that member is classified as aconfirmed attendee at the nightclub. Typically, if no response isreceived, the computer algorithm running on the Hoozware system serverclassifies that member as an unconfirmed attendee at the estimatednightclub.

When a Hoozware system member is classified by the computer algorithmrunning on the Hoozware system server as being at a particularnightclub, if the member takes a picture, records a movie/video clip,records an audio clip, types a text message, types an email, records avoicemail, and the like with their GPS mobile phone, the Hoozware systemapplication on their mobile phone may insert a prompt requesting thatthey post that geotagged information to the Hoozware system server; thusmaking it very easy and convenient for Hoozware system members inattendance at a nightclub to provide real-time geotagged informationabout the nightclub for other Hoozware system members to receive.

The Hoozware system may also offer social networking and dating servicesto its members. For instance, Hoozware system software may allow membersto enter personal data about themselves into their own personal profile,including but not limited to attributes commonly included in datingservice surveys, such as the member's sex, age, physical attributes,interests, etc., and also similar types of personal data about what theywould like to see in people they would like to meet at a nightclub.Typically, the Hoozware system requires a member to enter their ownpersonal data first in order to be allowed to receive similar types ofdata about other Hoozware system members. For example, if a memberentered that he was a male, between 25 and 29 years of age, and includeda picture, then when that member was determined by the Hoozware systemusing the member's GPS position to be at a particular nightclub, themember's data would be compiled into the statistics of all membersclassified as attending that nightclub. Such compiled statistical datawould be receivable by other members who also provided their sex, ageand picture. If a member only provided a subset of personal data (suchas their age) they typically would only be allowed to receive a similarsubset of compiled statistical data of the members (such as the ages) inattendance at the nightclub.

If a member specified in their personal profile that they would like tobe contacted by other Hoozware system members, they can specify underwhat circumstances and how they would prefer to be contacted, includingby voice on their mobile phone, text message on their mobile phone,voicemail, email, physical mail, etc., either directly or anonymouslyvia the Hoozware system server. If they request anonymous contact, thenan inquiring member would use the preferred method of contact; however,the content of the contact attempt would first go to the Hoozware systemserver. The member to be contacted is then sent the content of thecontact attempt from the inquiring member without revealing the directcontact information of either member to the other. Typically included inthe content anonymously sent from one member to the other is acapability for allowing each member to mutually share one or moreelements of their direct contact information with the other. Forexample, if a first member elects to mutually share their mobile phonenumber, the second member is informed of that election in contentanonymously provided to the second member. Until the second member alsoelects to mutually share their mobile phone number, neither party willbe allowed to view the mobile phone number of the other. Of course, thefirst member may include their mobile phone number, or other directcontact information, directly in the content anonymously sent to thesecond member, or vice versa. A member may specify that only Hoozwaresystem members at the nightclub they're at be allowed to contact them;or alternatively, a member may specify that prospective attendees may beallowed to contact them. The Hoozware system may charge a service feefor Hoozware system members to gain access to another Hoozware systemmember's personal profile or information related thereto, assuming thatthe profile or information was specified by the member to be accessible.The Hoozware system may also work with, provide information to, orreceive information from, other online or mobile dating services, andreceive financial benefits or other benefits therefor.

The following description details one embodiment of the subjectinvention.

1. Introduction

The Hoozware system consists of server and mobile device components thatwork together to implement mobile-centric venue information andmarketing services. The system leverages member-driven content,including location-based commentary and demographics, to promotecommunity amongst members and to provide marketing opportunities forvenues and sponsors. Targeted venues include night clubs, sports barsand music scenes where people aggregate for entertainment andsocializing.

2. Feature Summary

The system is used by tracked members, registered venues, registeredsponsors, and system administrators. Members carry mobile devices whichenable location tracking by the system, provide access to demographicand other information relevant to their decisions on which venues tovisit, and facilitate interaction with other members. Venues andsponsors access the system via the desktop (rather than mobile device)in order to query demographics, setup marketing campaigns, and monitorcampaign results. Venues may also publish entertainment schedules andother information that members access from their mobile devices. Venuesand sponsors are both promoters, such that referring to a promoter canmean either a venue or a sponsor that is interested in providing apromotion to a member.

3. Members

Members use the system to access venue information and to participate inan incentive rewards program.

3.1. Venue Information

Information includes venue descriptions, member commentary, andpopulation data. Venue descriptions are supplied by venues (or acquiredfrom a third party database), and may include music schedules and otherevents. Member commentary may include ratings, reviews, and currentblogs, possibly with multimedia content. Population data may includecurrent demographics and lists of members present.

3.2. Rewards Program

The incentive rewards program allows members to accumulate points forvarious actions and to exchange these points for discounted products andservices from sponsors. Reward items may include drinks and covercharges at clubs, meals at restaurants, limousine services, hotel stays,sports merchandise, music downloads, electronics, event tickets, airlinetickets, cash, shopping discounts at department stores or otherretailers, etc.

A member may receive reward points for purchases at a venue or from asponsor, whether or not the purchases are in response to a venue orsponsor promotion. While the six purchase scenarios below refer topurchases at venues, the same scenarios apply to purchases fromsponsors.

To receive points in a first scenario that doesn't require anycooperation from venues a member may keep purchase receipts, enter themon the Hoozware website to generate a receipt-submission form (typicallywhich includes an associated receipt-submission ID), printout thereceipt-submission form and mail it, along with the receipts, to aHoozware mailbox.

In a second scenario that does require cooperation from the venues,immediately after a purchase a member enters the amount of the purchaseinto the Hoozware application running on their mobile phone and thenhands their mobile phone to the cashier who then reviews the purchaseamount, and if correct, enters their unique cashier password into themember's mobile phone and presses the SEND button. The amount of thepurchase and the cashier's identity is sent to the Hoozware system andoptionally also sent to the venue for the venue's records.

In a third scenario that also requires cooperation of the venue, at thetime of purchase the member gives the cashier the member's uniquerewards ID number. The venue then associates the member's rewards IDwith the purchase amount and provides the information to the Hoozwaresystem. The member may provide their rewards ID number by any convenientmethod, including entering the number into a data terminal, providing arewards card or transmitting the rewards number via a phone.

In a fourth scenario, the member's rewards ID number and paymentinformation, such as credit card number or debit card number, may bothbe transmitted by the member's mobile phone, such as by wirelesstransmission.

In a fifth scenario, the member uses their mobile phone to call avenue-rewards-credit telephone number. The Hoozware applicationcommunicates the members name and minimum amount of the credit cardnumber or debit card number information in order for the venue toassociate charges made at the venue with the member and report theinformation about the products purchased by the member to the Hoozwaresystem.

In a sixth scenario, when a purchase is made using the member's creditcard or debit card, the associated credit card company or bank sendsconfirmation to the member's mobile phone. The Hoozware mobileapplication captures the confirmation and submits item(s) purchased,venue, time, purchase amount(s) and other important information to theHoozware system server which records the information and updates memberbehaviors, rewards points and statuses (such as elite status) with thevenues and sponsors that the purchases relate to. Alternately, thecredit card company or bank may send confirmation to a separate website,the member's home computer, the Hoozware system server, and the like,from where the member then requests rewards credit for the purchases.

3.3. Accounts

To establish accounts, new members supply the following information:

-   -   username, password, first name, last name, email, mobile number

Usernames must be unique to individuals in the system. These data areused for account access, maintenance, and communication. They are notdisclosed to third parties.

Reward points are given for successful registration. Additional rewardpoints are given when other members are referred.

3.4. Profiles

Members describe themselves by submitting personal profiles consistingof demographic and personal fields. The system also records memberbehavior statistics in behavior fields.

Demographic fields list member traits that can be statistically combinedto provide demographics information for anonymous population trackingand targeted marketing. These fields are:

-   -   general: birthday, gender, education, occupation, marital        status, parental status, home zip code, political affiliation,        salary range    -   sports: leagues, teams/players    -   music: genres, performers    -   tags: other member input, such as interests

Any presentation of demographic information to venues, sponsors, orother members are not identifiable with specific individuals.

Personal fields are used for social networking and commentaryattribution, and do identify specific individuals. These fields are:

-   -   nickname, personal statement, photo

Nicknames must be unique to individuals in the system and should bedifferent from usernames. Personal statements are textual introductionsby the members. Default photos may be system-supplied defaults if notreplaced by the members.

Behavior field records prior types of accepted promotions, spendinghabits, drinking habits, attendance habits, temporal habits, parking andwalking habits, etc.

3.5. Groups

Members may organize themselves into groups to facilitate commonpersonal visibility and messaging. A group consists of:

-   -   groupname, leader (nickname), member list (nicknames)

Groupnames must be unique to groups in the system. Each group has aleader who is responsible for creating and maintaining the list of itsmembers. Additions to the list require consent of both the member andthe leader. Deletions from the list may be issued by either.

If group filtering is enabled, personal fields of a member's profile arevisible to other members only if they belong to a common group. Membersmay belong to more than one group simultaneously.

A member may request that they be invisible to a specific member whilebeing visible to other members.

3.6. Tracking

During certain periods, member locations may be tracked so that theirpresence at or near venues is known to the system. The system mayconsolidate and present real-time, anonymous, venue demographic data toother members. The system may also, subject to personal visibilitycontrol, display a list of which members are present at each venue usingtheir personal fields.

Members must select a default tracking window from the following:

Happy Hour Hoozware Wednesday-Friday 3pm-8pm. Night Flight HoozwareThursday-Saturday 8pm-3am. Super Party Hoozware Combination of HappyHour and Night Flight windows. Ultimate Party Hoozware Continuouswindow.

There may also be special sports windows, for instance, to allow membersto search venues to watch playoff games at times that don't fall intoone of the other tracking windows.

Tracking is automatically turned on at the beginning of a member'swindow and turned off at the end of a member's window. If a memberaccesses the system for real-time demographics outside of their defaultwindow, then the shortest enclosing window is automatically applied totheir tracking schedule for that day. For example, if a member whosedefault window is Night Flight checks current demographics on Friday at4 pm, then they are automatically subscribed to Happy Hour trackinguntil 8 pm (for that day only), at which time their Night Flight defaultcontinues to track until 3 am.

Reward points are given based on the number of hours a member istracked.

3.7. Commentary

Members are encouraged to contribute comments on venues. These take theform of ratings, reviews, and blogs. Ratings and reviews are overallimpressions of the venue. Blogs are typically shorter posts with moreimmediate value, e.g., tonight's scene rocks. Multimedia content may beincluded as well.

Reward points are given based on the number and quality of a member'scomments. Quality is measured by usefulness as deemed by other members.

3.8. Privacy

These policies shall be observed to respect member privacy whileoffering relevant information to users of the system.

3.8.1. Tracking Control

Powering off a mobile device prevents tracking, but only until thedevice is powered on again. However, an interface shall be provided toallow a member to disable tracking in software and have this beeffective until 3 am the next day (remainder of the daily cycle) or fora specified multi-day period (vacation stop). The interface also allowsthe member to reverse this selection.

3.8.2. Personal Visibility Control

Members may choose the exposure level for their personal fields.Personal visibility may be set to: seen by all (no group filtering),seen only by groups (apply group filtering), or seen by none (hide). Ifsomeone is being tracked but does not appear on a list of memberspresent at a venue, they are either not present or just personallyinvisible to the viewer; these possibilities are indistinguishable tothe viewer.

3.8.3. Status

Indicators are provided to members so they may easily determine theirtracking status (on/off) and personal visibility status (all, groups,none) at any time.

3.8.4. Protection

Member behavior is not observable beyond intended members of the system.To protect against sniffer attacks, member tracking packets areencrypted.

Demographic data are not easily identifiable with specific individuals.To protect against geographic/demographic inference methods, demographicdata may be obscured for venue population counts below a threshold.

Member lists are not provided for locations other than venues.

3.8.5. History

Exact trajectory histories of tracked members are not retained by thesystem, but some statistics may be accumulated.

3.9. User Interface

Members access the system from both the desktop and their mobile device.Functionality is organized into the following sections which correspondroughly to screens or pages:

Setup/Maintenance:

-   -   Open/close account (desktop-only)    -   Update profile information (desktop-only)    -   Update tracking window    -   Update/manage groups

Privacy Control:

-   -   Update tracking    -   Update personal visibility

Venue Search:

-   -   Edit “moods” and search types (i.e., ranking criteria)        -   closest location to current location        -   most offers available        -   most members present        -   most M members present        -   most F members present        -   highest rating from other members        -   best match to custom demographic    -   One-time search (mobile-only)    -   Continuous search; optionally alert when rank changes        (mobile-only)    -   List/map of search results (mobile-only)    -   Select a venue to view

Venue View:

-   -   Venue description    -   Commentary—read, grade, add new    -   Current demographics (mobile-only)    -   Current members present (mobile-only)    -   Current offers

Member Search:

-   -   Contact list—groups, other people    -   One-time search of member locations (mobile-only)    -   Continuous search; optionally alert when location changes        (mobile-only)    -   List/map of search results (mobile-only)    -   Select a member to view

Member View:

-   -   Personal fields    -   Current location (mobile-only)    -   Contributed commentary

Offer Search:

-   -   Reward points available    -   Current offers (rewards/promotions) with different sorting        options    -   Select an offer to view

Offer View:

-   -   Description    -   Use offer; creates barcode and/or number code; deducts points if        a reward    -   Delete offer

4. Guests

Non-members may access the system via their desktop computer as guests;however, they can access only limited features. Guests do not haveaccess to the mobile device interface. Typically, a guest sees the sametop-level interfaces as members; however, when attempting to accessinformation limited to members only, the guest is informed that theinformation they requested is for members only and the system thenprompts the guest to register. Typically, guests can see a list ofvenues and access venue descriptions supplied by the venues. Typically,guests cannot view venue demographics, venue characteristics provided bymembers or personal profile information. Guests may be permitted to viewvenue or sponsor promotions, but are unable to redeem such promotionsand do not receive rewards.

5. Venues

Venues access the system to update their business description and managetheir marketing campaigns.

5.1. Description

Initially, venue descriptions will be generated from availabledatabases, but venues may choose to update/correct their own entries.Descriptions may include basic contact information, hours, charges,event schedules, and statements from the venues.

5.2. Marketing

There are two ways that venues can market to members. First, they mayplace standard advertisements on the desktop web interface seen bymembers (and guests). This is implemented using a third-partypay-per-click advertising system such as Google AdSense. Venues setupthese campaigns through the third party.

The other, more powerful way, is to market directly to members usingsystem offers (rewards or promotions). Marketing campaigns may becustomized according to numerous factors such as demographics, location,time, and VIP status. In a pay-for-performance model, venues would becharged a placement fee only when the offer is used by a member.

5.3. User Interface

Venues access the system from the desktop. Functionality is organizedinto the following sections:

Setup/Maintenance:

Open/close account

Update description

Marketing:

Campaign summary

Create/delete a campaign

Select a campaign to view

Campaign View:

Offer description

Offer type—reward or promotion

Point level, if reward

Limitations—expiration, count

Target location

Target profile

Target patronage—VIP or all

Target time

Usage statistics

Billing:

Credit card

Monthly statements

Venues may provide venue descriptions that are accessible by bothmembers and guests (non-members). Venues may post advertisements on aHoozware website. Venues may provide promotions via the Hoozware systemto a member of a demographic or behavioral pattern. Venues may receiveand review member demographics and behaviors and select a desireddemographic or behavioral pattern to which to send a promotion.Alternatively, the venues may, without receiving and reviewing anyinformation from the Hoozware system, provide instructions to the systemregarding to what types of demographics and behavioral patterns theywish to target, and when they would like promotions to be distributed,and let the Hoozware system make the detailed promotional distributiondecisions.

Typically, a venue has Hoozware Promoter Application software running onan office computer or mobile phone, or uses a web browser to accessHoozware Promoter Application software running on the Hoozware systemserver. The venue enters their promotion, selects one or more desireddemographics and enters the number of members in that demographic towhich the venue wants the promotion sent. The promotion, desireddemographic and number-of-members instructions are submitted to theHoozware system which then directs the venue's promotion to the desirednumber of members belonging to the demographic.

The promotions may be time critical and thus have a short expiration dayand time associated with them. For instance, if a venue desires moreattendees now, they may place a promotion through the Hoozware systemthat expires in 30 minutes or is valid only for the next 50 entrants.Allowing venues to efficiently promote to potential attendees who areknown by the position of their mobile phone to already be in the areaand based on their demographics and prior behavior to be likely attendeecandidates is a major advantage of the Hoozware system.

Members typically receive venue promotions in a Hoozware “promotionmailbox” on their mobile phone. The member may set up the promotionmailbox to provide an indication that there are promotions available,and optionally, how many promotions are available. The indication may bea media signal, such as an audible tone, a visual signal a tactilesignal, a combination of signals, etc. Different indications may beconfigured to indicate promotions of different types, from differentvenues, and the like. The member may alternately set up the promotionmailbox to do nothing until the member calls a promotion-mailbox phonenumber to request that all promotions be sent at that time. Thepromotions may also be accessed from a home or office computer, etc.

Members may use their communication device (e.g., mobile phone or homecomputer, etc.) to view which promotions are currently being offered tothem. Members falling within different demographic groups or exhibitingdifferent behaviors will typically see different promotions offered.

Typically, venues can have promotions (1) sent directly to the mobilephone of one or a group of members and (2) posted on the Hoozware systemserver where only promotions relevant to a particular member (forinstance, based on their demographics and behaviors) will be viewable bythat member when they access the Hoozware system server for theirpromotions.

A venue may offer promotional coupons to a larger number of members thanthe venue desires to accept. For instance, a venue may send a coupon(via the Hoozware system server) for “no cover charge” to 100 members ofa desired demographic group or behavior, but the venue may specify thatonly the first 10 coupons presented will be accepted. In one embodiment,members may access in real time from their mobile phone or home computerhow many coupons will still be accepted at that time. In the case wherethe promotion requires members to use points for a coupon, a member maybe allowed to “reserve” a coupon in advance. Such a reservationimmediately debits the member's rewards points, but assures the memberthat their coupon will be valid to redeem the promotion when theyarrive.

In one embodiment for redeeming a venue's promotion at the venue, themember shows the coupon (which was sent to them on behalf of the venue)displayed on their mobile phone's screen to a venue representative. Thecoupon has a coupon identifier (ID) associated with it. The display ontheir mobile phone says to press “OK” to “Validate” the coupon. Thevenue representative presses OK which causes the Mobile Application tocommunicate the coupon ID to the Hoozware system server (dataprocessor). The Hoozware system server then sends a “Confirmation Code”to one or more communication devices of the venue's choice. For example,a Confirmation Code may be text messaged to the venue representative'smobile phone informing the venue representative to accept the coupon.Simultaneously, a Confirmation Code may be emailed to the PromoterApplication to log the transaction for future reference.

When a member uses their communication device to check in real time howmany coupons the venue is still going to accept at that moment, inaddition to being presented with the number of coupons remaining, theymay be prompted to (1) press “OK” to validate the coupon now or (2)press “1” to reserve the coupon in advance.

Members typically receive reward points for accepting a promotion,attending a venue, spending money at a venue, and the like. Refer to theRewards Program in Section 3.2 for more information on how member mayreceive rewards points for purchases at venues.

Venues may track promotion acceptance or spending habits of members attheir venue. One way a venue may track member acceptance of the venues'promotion is for the venue to require that the member show the promotionon their mobile phone that was sent to them. The venue may record apromotion identifier (ID) that was sent along with the promotion. Themember may also be required to show their personal-field photo on theirmobile phone to confirm that they are the intended member.

6. Sponsors

Sponsors may provide promotions via the Hoozware system similarly to avenue. Sponsors access the Hoozware system to manage their marketingcampaigns. Their features and interface are similar to that of thevenues, except for the areas of venue description and VIP status. Seethe description above in Section 4 for Venues, and also refer to theRewards Program in Section 3.2 for more information on how member mayreceive rewards points for purchases from sponsors.

7. Administrators

Administrators have access to all stored information, including memberpersonal fields. Administrators may send promotions to members based onvendor or sponsor instructions. Such instructions may request that thesystem send promotions to members based on the members' demographic orbehavior, the day and time, etc. Administrators also control thebilling, promotion rates, etc.

8. Carrier/Device Support

Most major carriers and mobile devices are supported.

9. Venue Support

The system allows any venue to be listed. Venues may be added in bulkbased on business listings/categories acquired from third partydatabases. For example, the system may add venues appearing in GoogleLocal, CitySearch, SFGate, PubClub, Viator, and the like, as businessescategorized under one or more of the following:

-   -   Cocktail Bars & Lounges    -   Lounges & Bars    -   Night Clubs    -   Sports Bars, Lounges, & Restaurants

The following description details a second embodiment of the subjectinvention.

1. Introduction

The subject Hoozware system consists of server and mobile devicecomponents that work together to implement mobile-centric clubinformation and marketing services. The system leverages member-drivencontent, including location-based commentary and demographics, topromote community amongst members and to provide marketing opportunitiesfor clubs and sponsors. Targeted clubs include night clubs, bars, andmusic scenes where people aggregate for entertainment and socializing.

The system is used by registered members, clubs, and sponsors, andsupervisory access is supported for system administrators. Members carrymobile devices which provide access to demographic and other informationon clubs, facilitate interaction with other members, and support otheractivities such as recording their location. Clubs and sponsors accessthe system via the desktop (rather than a mobile device) in order toquery demographics, setup marketing campaigns, and monitor campaignresults. Clubs may also publish entertainment schedules and otherinformation that members can access.

2. Member Features

Members use the system to access club information, meet other members,and to receive offers from clubs and sponsors.

2.1 Club Information

Information includes club descriptions, member reviews, and populationdata. Club descriptions are typically supplied by clubs, and may includemusic schedules and other events. Member reviews may include ratings andcomments, possibly with multimedia content. Population data may includecurrent demographics and lists of members present.

2.2 Meeting Members

Members may search for other members in the system, and attempt tocontact them to arrange meetings at the clubs. Members may be interestedin establishing these connections for socializing or “crushing.” Thesystem provides communications facilities for requesting meetings,responding to requests, and selectively providing additionalinformation.

2.3 Offers

Members may receive promotional offers from clubs and sponsors(collectively known as marketers) for discounts on products andservices. Offers may be targeted according to member profile andbehavior.

Example offer items are drinks, food, cover, limousine services, hotelstays, sports merchandise, music downloads, electronics, event tickets,and shopping at department stores or other retailers.

2.4 Privacy

Member location and profile information may be made available to clubs,sponsors, and other members in order to support targeted marketing andmember-to-member interaction. Privacy from clubs and sponsors isaddressed by making marketing campaigns anonymous (but possiblytargeted), except for certain opt-in programs such as VIP designation.Privacy from other members is addressed by allowing visibility controlof certain information.

2.4.1 Location Data

Member attendance at clubs is recorded by the system whenever a memberperforms a check-in. However, the member may dynamically control whichother members can access their location information. It is possible fora member to check-in to a club and, at the same time, keep theirlocation invisible to other members. In this scenario, the member'sdemographics are still added to that of other attending members forpurposes of club crowd characterization, but their identities areblocked from appearing on people searches on that club. Note that anypresentation of aggregate demographics for a club should be robust totrivial inference methods that may reveal such a member's presenceunintentionally.

2.4.2 Crush Profile

Member profiles contain various information which describes themselvesto the system. The information is categorized into demographic, socialand crush fields. Demographic fields are used anonymously tocharacterize the crowd of attendees at a venue. Social fields describemembers to other members in order to facilitate member interaction.Crush fields are information that may be particularly relevant formembers interested in dating or relationships. Since some members mayconsider the crush fields to be more sensitive, explicit privacycontrols are provided for this portion of the profile.

2.4.3 History

Exact check-in histories of members will not be retained by the system,but some statistics may be accumulated.

3. Member Interface

Members access the system from both the desktop and the mobile device.Functionality is available on both platforms unless indicated otherwise.

3.1 Account

To establish accounts, new members supply the following information:

-   -   Username    -   Password    -   First Name, Last Name    -   Email    -   Cellphone (number, carrier, model)

Usernames must be unique to individuals in the system. These data areused for account access, maintenance, and communication. They are notdisclosed to third parties. Cellphone numbers should be validated aspart of account setup (e.g. by sending confirmation code in SMS).

Opening, closing, and changing accounts are only available from thedesktop.

3.2 Profile

Members describe themselves by submitting profiles consisting ofdemographic, social and crush fields.

Demographic fields consist of the following:

-   -   *Required*    -   Gender    -   Date of Birth (present as age)    -   ZIPcode (present as distance from other members)    -   Optional: Other fields presentable in aggregate.

Social fields consist of the following:

-   -   Nickname    -   *Optional*    -   Statement    -   Media (Photo, Video, Audio)    -   City of residence    -   Hometown    -   Interests—general    -   Interests—music    -   Interests—movies    -   Interests—television    -   Interests—books    -   Interests—sports    -   Interests—dance    -   Interests—politics    -   Favorite drink    -   Ask me about    -   Tell me about

Crush (“C”) fields consist of the following:

-   -   C Statement    -   C Media (Photo, Video, Audio)    -   About my date    -   Relationship status    -   Orientation    -   Body type    -   Height    -   Smoking    -   Drinking    -   Ethnicity    -   Religion    -   Have children    -   Want children    -   Income    -   Homeowner    -   Occupation    -   Education    -   Zodiac

Members also configure their crush profile with filtering, privacy, andparticipation. Filtering indicates the criteria to apply in order toidentify potential crushes (crush matches). Privacy indicates whichother members may see their crush fields. Participation indicateswhether the member opts-in to the crushing portion of the service. Byopting-in, the member enables their crush fields to be visible accordingto their privacy setup, and allows the system to find crush matchesaccording to their filtering setup.

Entering or updating profile information is generally only availableonly from the desktop.

Optional: Support upload of profile photo, video, audio from mobiledevice.

Optional: Add business card fields to profile.

3.3 My Preferences

Members may customize their interaction with the system in various ways.The customizable settings are as follows.

3.3.1 My Clubs

These are member-selected favorite clubs for convenient reference.

3.3.2 My Friends

Friends are individual members that are listed for easy access similarto a phonebook, but requiring consent from both parties. Friend listsare publicly available to other members in order to facilitatenetworking.

Optional: Add option to hide some or all friends.

3.3.3 My Groups

Groups consist of one or more friends that may be treated together forvisibility, messaging, or other purposes.

3.3.4 My Bookmarks

Bookmarks are similar to friends, but do not require consent from bothparties and are not publicly available. They are useful for easilyreferencing individual members prior to acceptance as a friend.

3.3.5 My Blocked

Blocked members are those designated for avoidance. A member's locationand crush profile are not visible to a blocked member, and any messagesreceived from blocked members are discarded.

Cellphone numbers may also be blocked. This is useful for preemptivelyblocking people that may not have accounts yet.

3.3.6 My Filters

Filters are member-defined criteria for selecting other members.Criteria may include numerous factors involving social or crush fields.For convenience, the system may pre-define one or more common criteriathat are useful to many members.

3.3.7 My Moods

Moods are member-defined criteria for ranking clubs. Criteria mayinclude numerous factors such as club characteristics, attendeedemographics, distance from starting location, and available offers. Forconvenience, the system may pre-define one or more common criteria thatare useful to many members. Some example moods are:

-   -   Closest    -   Most members, both men and women    -   Most members, men    -   Most members, women    -   Most members that belong to My Friends    -   Most members that belong to one of My Groups    -   Most members that pass one of My Filters    -   Most offers    -   Highest recommendation by member review    -   Closest AND Live music AND Most dancing by member review    -   Darts AND Pool AND Most offers

Each mood which relies on data that may not be available (e.g., memberreviews) uses the lowest scores for any missing data.

Optional: Allow weights to be associated with ranking criteria.

3.3.8 My Alerts

Alerts are member-defined notifications based on various triggers.Supported triggers include:

Top Club Active search has identified a new top club Review Club hasgotten a member review Offer Offer has been received Check-in Member haschecked-in Check-out Member has checked-out Message Message has beenreceived Candidate System has identified a new member passing a screen

All alerts may be independently configured for:

Status Enabled or disabled Timing Immediate, digest (e.g., every hour)Channel Application, text message, email

Some alerts may restrict the set of members considered by furtherselection of individual, group, bookmarks, blocked, or screen (e.g.,filter, crush matches). The candidate alert must select a screen.

Some alerts may restrict the set of clubs considered by furtherselection of club name, current club, or not the current club.

An alert notification will indicate what was triggered, with a briefdescription.

A master alert switch suppresses all alerts when off, and defers to theindividual alert statuses when on. When master alert is off, the alertconfiguration page should indicate this override (e.g., by graying out).

3.3.9 My Location Privacy

Location privacy determines which other members see check-in activity.

Visibility may be granted by category to the following:

-   -   Friends    -   Crush matches    -   Current club    -   Individuals (custom list)

If a member is in My Blocked, any individual visibility rule for thatmember will be overridden and indicated as such (e.g., by graying out).

A master location switch suppresses location data to everyone when off,and defers to the collection of rules when on. When master location isoff, the privacy configuration page should indicate this override (e.g.,by graying out).

3.4 Club Activities

Members may perform various activities related to clubs. Features may belimited for unregistered clubs, which have no offers and have minimaldescriptive information.

3.4.1 Club Search

Each search is configured as follows:

Consider only all, registered, My Clubs, by neighborhood Ranking moodnone, one of My Moods, customized mood

‘Consider only’ indicates which clubs are to be considered. ‘Rankingmood’ indicates the criteria used to sort the search results. If Rankingmood is None, results will be sorted alphabetically. If Ranking mood isCustomized mood, it is possible to use one of My Moods as a basis forthe customization. Any customized mood may be saved as a new entry to MyMoods or discarded.

Search results are presented as an indexed list or, optionally, as a mapwith the indices plotted. Each club result is given a score based on theranking criteria. For atomic criteria, the score may be expressed in therelevant units such as distance, rating, or counts of people/offers. Forcompound criteria, the score may be expressed as a percentage of highestpossible score.

Optional: Select ‘checked’, i.e., manual selection of a subset of searchresults as input into subsequent search.

There is also a club lookup feature which allows finding a club based onname or street.

Clicking on a particular club brings up its details in the club view.

3.4.2 Club View

Club details are organized according to the following categories. Somevalues, indicated in parentheses, are displayed on the initial viewpage:

Crowd Attending members (M, W, age, crush matches) Reviews Memberreviews (recommendation, number of reviews) Offers Offers available(number of offers) Description Club description

If the club view was brought up by clicking on a ranked search result,the club view may also include a line indicating the club's score on theranking criteria.

On the mobile device, clicking on a category will bring up a separatepage that elaborates on that category. On the desktop, some or all ofthese categories may be simultaneously displayed.

3.4.2.1 Club Detail: Crowd

Visible members in attendance at the club are listed. Each member issummarized with a photo, nickname, gender, and age. Icons may be shownto convey member location and crush profile visibility (forward andreverse), as well as crush matching designation.

Optionally, the listing of visible members may be restricted byselection of individual, group, bookmarks, blocked, crush matchingdesignation, one of My Filters, or by a customized filter. If using acustomized filter, it is possible to use one of My Filters as a basisfor the customization. Any customized filter may be saved as a new entryto My Filters or discarded. The listing of visible members may also berestricted to those having photos.

Clicking on a listed member brings up the “member view” as a separatepage.

The current demographics of the attending members are also available,possibly via an extra button selection. The demographics data are givenas follows:

Gender: Men(#,%), Women(#,%)

Age: Typical=#, Spread=+/−#, Min=#, Max=#

Distance: Typical=#, Spread=+/−#, Min=#, Max=#

Note that distance refers to how many miles away attending members livefrom the viewing member's residence. Locations are typically assigned asthe centroids of profile ZlPcodes.

Optional: Other fields presentable in aggregate.

Optional: Check-in versus survey-based data.

Optional: Show map of residence clusters.

Demographic trends over time may also be displayed in a chart. Eachchart is specified by a time period and a demographic:

Time period Today, or last 7, 30 or 90 days (pick day of week or all)Demographic By gender, age, or distance

Member counts segmented by the demographic are then displayed versustime of day for an average day in the time period.

3.4.2.2 Club Detail: Reviews

Reviews of clubs are submitted by members. Each review may have thefollowing sections:

Ratings Rate the club on these factors - Crowded 1 = empty 2 = so-so 3 =packed Age 1 = 20s 2 = 30s 3 = 40s&up Gender Mix 1 = mostly M 2 = even 3= mostly W Dancing 1 = nobody 2 = some 3 = everyone Comments Textcomments Photo Snapshot, possibly with text Video Video snippet,possibly with text Audio Audio snippet, possibly with text

Optional: Rating for music.

Reviews are displayed based on which review sections are of interest.

If ratings are selected, then the average for each rating (one hourweighting ramp peaking at the most recent rating) is provided, withindication of how many ratings are included. Ratings are displayedanonymously (i.e., without attribution to member). A graphing option mayalso be provided.

If comments or other media are selected, the relevant reviews are listedand sorted reverse chronologically. For each review, the time stamp isgiven and the contributing member is identified, possibly characterizedby their historical contribution level.

3.4.2.3 Club Detail: Offers

Offers from the club are displayed similarly to the general offersinterface described later, but only include those that come from thisclub.

3.4.2.4 Club Detail: Description

The club description may include the following components:

Contact Address, phone, fax, website Summary Text description FeaturesAvailability of pool table, darts, tv, etc. Media Photo, video, audioEvents Calendar of events

Directions to the club are also provided. Optionally, a map may besupplied.

3.4.3 Club Actions

For a particular club, members may perform certain actions. Theseactions are accessible from various interfaces as appropriate:

Mobile Mobile Desktop Desktop Home Page Club View Home Page Club ViewAdd to My Clubs — X — X Check-in X X — — Check-out X X — — Post Review XX — X

3.4.3.1 Add to My Clubs

This adds the club to the member's list of favorites.

3.4.3.2 Check-in

This checks-in the member at a club. As part of the check-in, the memberis prompted to submit a review, with the ratings section beingmandatory. At registered clubs, check-ins qualify the member forautomatic spins for 2-for-1 or free drink specials. A member maycheck-in again at the same club in order to refresh their presence(typically after two hours).

3.4.3.3 Check-Out

This checks-out the member from the current club. If no explicitcheck-out is performed, the member is automatically checked-out twohours after their last check-in.

3.4.3.4 Post Review

This enables a member to post a review on a club.

3.5 Member Activities

Member-related activities include searching for members, viewing memberpages, and actions related to members such as sending messages.

3.5.1 Member Search

Each search is configured as follows:

-   -   Select all, My Friends, one of My Groups,        -   My Bookmarks, My Blocked, crush matching designation,        -   one of My Filters, customized filter

‘Select’ indicates which set of members to search for. If select iscustomized filter, it is possible to use one of My Filters as a basisfor the customization. Any customized filter may be saved as a new entryto My Filters or discarded. Optionally, selected members may be furtherrestricted to those having photos.

Search results are sorted by proximity to the member's starting location(closest first, and members with unknown locations alphabetically at theend). Results are presented as an indexed list or, optionally, as a mapwith the indices plotted. Each member result is shown with theirproximity in miles.

Optional: Select ‘checked’, i.e., manual selection of a subset of searchresults as input into subsequent search.

There is also a member lookup feature which allows finding a memberbased on name, email, or cellphone number.

Clicking on a particular member brings up their details in the memberview.

3.5.2 Member View

Member gender, age, and social profile are displayed, as well as currentlocation, crush profile, and primary photo as available. Accessing othermedia may require navigation to linked pages. Icons may be shown toconvey member location and crush profile visibility (forward andreverse), as well as crush matching designation. The reviews submittedby this member are also available.

Optional: Also show testimonials if supported.

3.5.3 Member Actions

When viewing a member's page, the following actions are supported:

Add as Friend Add to My Friends Add to Group Add to group in My GroupsBookmark Add to My Bookmarks Block Add to My Blocked Create Alert Createalert for My Alerts Change Privacy Modify privacy of location or crushprofile Send Message Send a message Report Abuse Flag inappropriatematerial

Optional: Support testimonials.

3.6 Message Center

Members may exchange messages with other members. Messages consist of asubject, a body (including prefix/postfix), and optional flags andattachments.

3.6.1 Composing Messages

Messages are constructed primarily by selecting quick text phrases.Selecting custom for any component allows the user to enter arbitrarytext:

Subject: Rockin'! <club> Here! <club> Gone! <club> Chat! <topic: null orpart of recipient social fields> [I|You|We] match! Wink! Special messagewith no other components *CUSTOM* Body Prefix (Salutation): *PRESET*Member pre-defined (e.g. Hi <recipient first *CUSTOM* Body: Check itout. Let's talk. You're cute. You're hot. Meet at the[bar|door|spotN|*CUSTOM*] (optional) in [5|15|30mins]? Call me at<sender cellphone number> (optional) in [5|15|30mins]? Buy you a drink?No thanks. Maybe later. OK (optional) but in [5|15|30mins]. *PRESET1 *Member pre-defined (e.g. Wuzzup?) *PRESET2* “ *PRESET3* “ *CUSTOM* “Body Postfix (Signature): *PRESET* Member pre-defined (e.g. <senderfirst name>) *CUSTOM* Flags: Request crush profile Attachments: Media

Messages may be sent to individuals or groups. Some quick text choicesmay be restricted based on context (e.g., allow “we match!” only whenmutual crush).

Optional: Identify supported media sources from amongst serverrepository, desktop file system, cellphone file system, capture atcomposition.

3.6.2 Reading Messages

Members view the subject and body of a message as plain text. Links areprovided to select a member view of the sender, or a club view of thesender's current location (if known). Icons may be shown to conveymember location and crush profile visibility (forward and reverse), aswell as crush matching designation. Any sender request to show crushprofile should also be conveyed.

3.7 Offer Center

Offers from marketers are promotional discounts on products or services.Each offer is described as follows:

Marketer Club or sponsor making the offer Discount Free, 2for1, % value,$value Item All drinks, beer/wine, well drinks, admission, food,merchandise Start Date/time offer starts End Date/time offer ends

Optional: Additional field for number of available redemptions.

An example offer is:

-   -   From Ruby Skye: 2for1 beer/wine, valid 2/11-2/19

Depending on display limitations, some reformatting of the offerinformation may be necessary. Offers may be sorted by any of the offerfields. Clicking on a particular offer brings up the individual offerview, which may show more details and enables redemption.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of the Hoozware system, including members,venues and a data processor.

FIG. 2A is a map view of venue search results; FIG. 2B is a text view ofvenue search results.

FIG. 3 is a simplified logic flow diagram for a software applicationaccessed using a member's mobile communication device.

FIG. 4 is a simplified logic flow diagram for a software application torun on the Hoozware data processor.

FIG. 5 is a simplified logic flow diagram for a software applicationaccessed using a promoter's office computer.

FIG. 6 is a simplified logic flow diagram for a software applicationaccessed using a member's home computer.

FIG. 7 is an example plot of one demographic versus time on a particularevening at one venue, where the historical average for the selecteddemographic is plotted along with the actual real-time demographic

FIG. 8 provides exemplary information requested to open a user accountusing a web browser on a desktop computer.

FIGS. 9-12 refer to information about a member and the opportunity tofind a partner, referred to as “Crush Information.” In this example, themember fills out the information using a web browser on a desktopcomputer.

FIGS. 13-23 provide user Preferences and various aspects of informationincluded in the database of the Hoozware System. In this example, themember fills out the information using a web browser on a desktopcomputer.

FIG. 24 shows an exemplary menu of selections displayed on the screen ofa mobile communication device, such as a mobile telephone.

FIGS. 25-26 demonstrate how to search for and select a particular clubusing a mobile communication device; where, in this example, theselected club is referred to as “Dragon Bar.”

FIGS. 27-36 illustrate various aspects and characteristics of the clubreferred to as “Dragon Bar” all displayed on a mobile communicationdevice. In particular, FIG. 30 shows three curves versus time: the totalnumber of men at the club, the total number of women at the club and theoverall total number of members at the club.

FIG. 37 shows the menu for selecting Check-in on a mobile communicationsdevice.

FIGS. 38-43 illustrate the various stages of the check-in involvingselection of a club, estimation of the demographics of patrons at theclub, evaluation of the club, the opportunity to play a game of chanceto win a prize, redeeming the prize, and changing the evaluation of theclub later.

FIGS. 44-47 illustrate the use of a mobile communication device with theHoozware System for locating and viewing other members, including“Crush” members, employing filters for the selection.

FIGS. 48-50 illustrate the use of a mobile communication device forsending messages to other members of the Hoozware System.

FIGS. 51-53 display promotional offers from the club to the members onthe screen of a mobile communication device.

FIGS. 54-63 illustrate the fields for a venue representative to loginand provide their venue account and profile information.

FIGS. 64-69 illustrate the fields used for presenting the demographicsof members at a venue, where FIG. 65 is an illustrative graph of thedata tabulated in FIG. 64.

FIGS. 70-75 provide illustrative fields for promotional activities.

FIG. 76 is an exemplary social network website Home screen on a desktopcomputer for a guest visitor to the website.

FIG. 77A is an exemplary social network website Home screen on a desktopcomputer for a signed-in member of the website. FIG. 77B is exemplary ofa lower portion of the screen of FIG. 77A further showing place andMember Updates in various tabs.

FIG. 78A exemplifies a social network member's social network friendsbeing organized into labeled “circles of friends”. FIG. 78B exemplifieshow to add to and create a circle of friends. FIG. 78C provides anexemplary list of circles of friends for a particular social networkmember. FIG. 78D provides an example with two members in the “DanceFriends” circle of friends. FIG. 78E exemplifies selecting a circle offriends to receive an email.

FIG. 79 exemplifies how to specify a desired geographical region usingHooz City.

FIG. 80A exemplifies how to specify a desired timeframe using Hooz Time,and FIG. 80B exemplifies Hooz Time set to a future day.

FIG. 81 provides an exemplary list of “Crush Matches”.

FIG. 82A provides an exemplary Offer Center, and FIG. 82B provides anexemplary offer.

FIG. 83A provides an exemplary Event Center, FIG. 83B provides anexemplary event, and FIG. 83C exemplifies adding a plan.

FIG. 84A provides an exemplary Plan Center, and FIG. 84B provides anexemplary plan.

FIG. 85 provides an exemplary Message Center.

FIG. 86A provides three exemplary “find” features for finding a desirevenue or list of venues. FIGS. 86B and 86C provide exemplary venuesearch criteria.

FIG. 87A provides two exemplary “find” features for finding a desiremember or list of members. FIGS. 86B and 86C provide exemplary membersearch criteria.

FIG. 88 provides exemplary settings which are editable.

FIG. 89 provides exemplary saved venue searches.

FIG. 90 provides exemplary saved member searches.

FIGS. 91A and 91B are exemplary editable mobile-alert settings foroccurrence of certain trigger events related to a social network ofmembers.

FIG. 92 provides exemplary checkin viewability settings.

FIG. 93 provides exemplary Crush Matching information.

FIG. 94 provides exemplary Crush Matching and viewability settings.

FIG. 95 provides exemplary contact information for a member.

FIGS. 96A and 96B provide an exemplary Home screen for an applicationfor a mobile device, such as an iPhone, iPad, iPod, or other iOS,Android, or Blackberry device, or other mobile device.

FIG. 97 provides exemplary result of a real-time venue ranking.

FIGS. 98A-98D provide exemplary views of information and button actionson a mobile device application relating to a selected venue.

FIG. 99 provides an exemplary mobile device application screen displayedafter a “Checkin” or “Checkin Here” button is selected.

FIG. 100A provides an exemplary Checkin Bonus Game on a mobile deviceapplication, and FIG. 100B provides an exemplary screen indicating thecorrect element was selected.

FIG. 101 provides an exemplary warning that there will be a timelimitation to redeem a coupon after it is displayed on a mobile device.

FIG. 102A provides on a mobile device an exemplary valid un-torn coupon(typically green), and FIG. 102B provides an exemplary redeemed orotherwise invalid torn coupon (typically red).

FIG. 103A provides an exemplary verification screen on a mobile deviceapplication, and FIG. 103B provides an exemplary screen indicating thatthe mobile coupon has been verified.

FIG. 104 provides an exemplary Offer Center on a mobile device screen.

FIG. 105A provides an exemplary Facebook posting displayed on a mobiledevice or small screen. FIG. 105B provides an exemplary Facebook postingdisplayed on a desktop or non-small screen. FIG. 105C provides anexemplary re-posting to a second media-sharing service (e.g., a FacebookFan Page) of a first media-sharing service post, (e.g., to anindividual's Facebook Newsfeed). FIG. 105D provides an exemplaryre-posting to a second Twitter page of a first Twitter post.

FIG. 106 provides an exemplary posting of a Plan to Facebook or anymedia-sharing service.

FIGS. 107A-107C provide an exemplary portion of Packet Data, such as TheScene data, being displayed in various local business listings for aparticular venue.

FIGS. 108A-108B provide an exemplary Home page for a venue's accountwith a social network.

FIGS. 109A-109D provide exemplary tools for specifying a new offercampaign.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A system and method is provided for a service to venues where peopleaggregate.

The subject invention is further described in detail hereunder referringto the embodiments provided in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatical view of the Hoozware system showing variousentities communicating with a data processor 100. The data processor 100comprises a processor 101, such as a central processing unit (CPU),computer memory 102 and a database 103 typically stored on a hard driveaccessible by the processor 101. The data processor 100 may comprise acomputer server, desktop computer, laptop computer, portable computer orany other convenient computing device or combination of distributed ornetworked computing and/or data communication devices. The database 103may be a single database or may be multiple databases that may reside ona single hard drive or multiple hard drives accessible over a network,where the network may be wired or wireless. The database 103 maycomprise a dating service database. Such a dating service database mayexist at a remote site and be licensed from a Hoozware vendor partner.

The data processor 100 communicates, both wired and wirelessly, withvarious entities, including members, venues and sponsors. The dataprocessor 100 can communicate wirelessly with a Hoozware Member1 104 whois using a data communication device 105. The data communication devicemay be a mobile phone (a.k.a. mobile telephone, cellular telephone, cellphone) or handheld computer. By “handheld computer” is meant arelatively small wired, wireless or mobile computer, terminal or PDA(“personal digital assistant”), such as a Palm Pilot®, Pocket PC®,Blackberry®, and the like. The Member1 104 may be standing on the ground108, sitting, walking, running, etc., or be most anywhere where they cansend and receive signals. A Member1 106 may communicate with theHoozware system data processor 100 from a building 109, such as theirhome or office, using a wired or wireless computer 107. The computer 107may be a laptop computer, desktop computer, mobile phone, handheldcomputer and the like. A MemberM 110 may communicate with the Hoozwaresystem data processor 100 from a vehicle 112, such as a car, bus, train,subway, people mover, aircraft, watercraft, and the like. Typically, theMemberM 110 communicates with the Hoozware system using a mobile phone111; however, depending on whether the vehicle has wired communicationcapability, the MemberM 110 may use other wireless or wiredcommunication devices, including handheld computers, wireless computers,wired computers, wired telephones, cordless telephones and the like.

The data processor 100 is also capable of communicating with venues andmembers and non-members at venues. The data processor 100 communicateswith Venue1 113 by both wired and wireless communication devices. Forexample, a venue manager 123 may communicate with the data processor 100from his office using a wired desktop computer 124. The manager 123 mayalso communicate with the data processor 100 using a mobile phone. Thedata processor communicates with members 114 at Venue1 113 typically bytheir data communication devices 122. In FIG. 1, members are shownhaving data communication devices that are depicted similarly to thedata communication device 105. Non-members 115 at Venue1 113 are notdepicted in FIG. 1 to have data communication devices; however, they mayhave them. The non-members 115 typically have limited access toinformation that the data processor 100 provides to the members 114.

Typically, the data communication devices 122 comprise position-sensingdevices, such as global positioning system (GPS) sensors. Any otherconvenient position-sensing device may be used. Assuming a member is inpossession of such a data communication device, the location informationprovided by the GPS sensor is assumed to indicate the locationinformation for the member. The data processor 100 typically receiveslocation information from the data communication devices 122 of members114. Accordingly, at Venue1 113, three of the five people present aretracked and known to be at Venue1 113. For the tracked members 114 thedata processor also knows their traits and can calculate demographics ofmembers 114 at Venue1 113 and also estimate the demographics of theentire crowd based on a previously estimated relationship between memberdemographics and entire crowd demographics.

The venue manager 123 at Venue1 113 typically can view informationprovided by the data processor 100 concerning the members 114 at Venue1113, as well as, view information about the members 117 and 120 at othervenues 116 and 119, respectively. A non-member 118 is at Venue1 116 anda non-member 121 is at VenueV 119. The data processor 100 typicallyprovides such information concerning members to a Hoozware website,where the manager 123 views it using a browser or custom softwareapplication running on his office computer 124. The venue manager 123 atVenue1 113 may use such viewed information to decide to send a promotionto a desired number of members making up a demographic of interest orexhibiting a behavior of interest to the manager 123. For example, themanager 123 at Venue1 113 may decide at 10:00 p.m. that business is alittle slow and so he wants to entice members to come to Venue1 113. Themanager 123 can use either a browser or custom software applicationrunning on his office computer 124 to submit a request to send apromotion. In one illustrative embodiment, the manager 123 may use aseries of drop-down boxes, number-entry boxes, radio buttons, and thelike, to submit his request to the data processor 100. For example, themanager 123 may use drop-down boxes to select a first demographic groupcomprising women between the ages of 25 and 29. The manager 123 may thenuse a number-entry box to enter the desired number of members to which apromotion is sent. For example, the manager 123 may enter the number“25.” In the illustrative embodiment, the manager 123 then selects froma set of radio buttons which promotion is to be sent the his selecteddemographic. For example, the manager 123 selects his promotion tocomprise an offer for “No Cover Charge.” In the illustrative embodiment,the manager 123 then selects from the drop-down boxes a seconddemographic group comprising men between the ages of 25 and 34; clicks aradio button that the promotion is to be sent to “All In The SelectedDemographic Not At Venue1;” and selects from a set of radio buttons thatthe promotion comprise a “2 for 1” drink offer if redeemed within 30minutes. The manager 123 then clicks a “Preview” button which summarizesthe promotion, to whom it is to be sent, the associated cost of thepromotion to be paid to Hoozware, and is then presented with “Send,”“Cancel” and “Back” buttons. If Send is pressed, the data processor 100follows the manager's instructions and sends the promotion to the mobilephones (e.g., using SMS text messages) and/or email addresses of membersfitting the desired demographics. The promotion may also be stored formembers on the Hoozware data processor 100 in a location accessible bythe members using any of a variety of wireless and wired communicationdevices.

In the illustrative embodiment above, selecting “All In The SelectedDemographic Group Not At Venue1” means that the promotion will go to allmembers fitting the selected demographics, including the mobile phonesof members at other venues. In fact, the Hoozware system typicallyallows a venue manager to specifically request that a promotion be sentto members exhibiting a particular behavior. Some example behaviorsinclude (a) the venue you're at now, (b) venues you frequent, (c) whereyou park before going to a venue, (d) where you eat before going to avenue, (e) the path you take in going to a venue, (f) how much you drinkat a venue, (g) how much you spend at a venue, (h) which types ofpromotions you accept, (i) what types of products you buy, and the like.Accordingly, in the illustrative example above, the manager 123 atVenue1 113 might intentionally try to encourage members at other venuesto come to his venue by selecting from a drop-down box that hispromotion be sent to members 117 exhibiting the behavior that they arepresently at Venue2 116. The manager 123 may select that the promotionsent to this selected group of members further include “No Cover Charge”since it is likely that such members already paid a cover charge at thecompeting Venue2 116. Venue2 116 may also send a promotion to itsmembers in attendance to encourage them to stay. In a sense, theHoozware system can be used like an “eBay® for people,” where venues, ineffect, bid for members in real time.

FIG. 2A is a graphical map display 200 that may be used in an exemplaryembodiment to display venue search results on the screen of a mobilephone which is in “map mode.” The map shows streets and venues. Examplestreets include 1st Street 201, 2^(nd) Street 202, 3^(rd) Street 203,4^(th) Street 204, 5^(th) Street 205, 6^(th) Street 206, 1^(st) Avenue207, 2^(nd) Avenue 208, 3^(rd) Avenue 209, 4^(th) Avenue 210 and 5^(th)Avenue 211. VenueA 212 is shown on the northeast corner of 5^(th) Street205 and 2^(nd) Avenue 208; VenueB 213 is shown on the northeast cornerof 2^(nd) Street 202 and 3^(rd) Avenue 209; VenueC 214 is shown on thesoutheast corner of 4^(th) Street 204 and 5^(th) Avenue 211; VenueD 215is shown on the southwest corner of 6^(th) Street 206 and 3^(rd) Avenue209; VenueE 216 is shown on the west side of 1^(st) Street 201 midblockbetween 3^(rd) Avenue 209 and 4^(th) Avenue 210; VenueF 217 is shown onthe south side of 5^(th) Avenue 211 west of 1^(st) Street 201; VenueG218 is shown on the east side of 3^(rd) Street 203 midblock between3^(rd) Avenue 209 and 4^(th) Avenue 210; VenueH 219 is shown on thenorth side of 5^(th) Avenue 211 midblock between 2^(nd) Street 202 and3^(rd) Street 203; and Venue1 220 is shown on the southwest corner of5^(th) Street 205 and 2^(nd) Avenue 208. In this example, the venues aredesignated on the map by a circle with an associated number, where thenumber specifies the venue's ranking score based on the member'spredefined rankings of individual venue characteristics and attendeedemographics. The member's location is depicted by the person icon 221at the northwest corner of 2^(nd) Street 202 and 5^(th) Avenue 211. Thelocation is determined by position sensing, such as GPS, in the member'smobile communication device.

Typically, various mobile phone controls are used to control thetranslation and zoom of the map. Mobile phone controls are alsotypically used to select a venue and request more information about thevenue. For example to further illustrate, after selecting the map modeby toggling between “map mode” and “text mode” using the * key, theVenueA 212 is highlighted by default since it received the highestranking score. To highlight a subsequent venue, the mobile phone “downarrow” is used; then to highlight a venue above, the mobile phone “uparrow” is used. Once a venue is highlighted for which the member desiresmore information, such as detailed information on the highlightedvenue's characteristics and attendee demographics, the “OK” button onthe mobile phone is pressed. If the mobile phone has a touch screen, themember may simply tap the circle designating the venue to bring updetailed information on the corresponding venue.

FIG. 2B is a text display 222 that may be used in an exemplaryembodiment to display venue search results on the screen of a mobilephone when in “text mode.” In this embodiment, the text display 222lists the venues returned by a Hoozware venue search. The text display222 lists the venue, VenueA 224, with the highest ranking score at thetop next to ranking index 1 223 and with a ranking score of 78% 225listed next to it on the other side. In the example, the other venuesare listed below VenueA 224 next to their associated ranking index andranking score. Typically, the text display 222 has a graphical scrollbar 227 when there are too many venue results to fit on a single screen.

Continuing with this exemplary embodiment, to toggle from the mapdisplay 200 to the text display 222 the member may again use the * key.Similar to the map mode, the VenueA 212 is highlighted by default sinceit received the highest ranking score. To highlight a subsequent venuein the text list, the mobile phone “down arrow” is used; then tohighlight a venue above, the mobile phone “up arrow” is used. Once avenue is highlighted for which the member desires more information, suchas detailed information on the highlighted venue's characteristics andattendee demographics, the “OK” button on the mobile phone is pressed.If the mobile phone has a touch screen, the member may simply tap thename of the venue to bring up detailed information on it.

FIG. 3 is a simplified logic flow diagram for a software Hoozware mobileapplication which may be accessed by, or run on, a member's mobilephone. A commercial Hoozware mobile application is typically much morecomplex; however, FIG. 3 exemplifies some of the basic elements thattypically exist in such more complex application. Such an application istypically downloaded to the member's mobile phone from the Hoozwarewebsite, the member's carrier's website, a third-party mobile phonesoftware website or by downloading the application from a CD to themember's computer and then transferring the application to the member'smobile phone. The Hoozware mobile application may also run on theHoozware system server 100 and be accessed, such as by a web browser,using a mobile phone (typically using a WAP browser), other dataterminal, an office computer, communication device and the like.

In an illustrative embodiment, the Hoozware mobile application is loadedonto the member's mobile phone and launched, i.e., started 300. Once theapplication is launched it runs as a background process until terminatedby the member. Typically, even if the mobile phone is turned off, if theapplication had not been explicitly terminated by the member prior toturning off the mobile phone, the application will automatically launchwhen the mobile phone is turned on.

During the process of loading and launching the Hoozware mobileapplication, the member is asked to setup the application. During setup,the member is typically asked to configure, define or edit the followingapplication features: (1) tracking window(s), (2) moods, (3) personalprofile, including traits, nickname, personal statement, self photo,self video, etc., (4) register with Hoozware, (5) friends and groups,etc.

The Hoozware mobile application performs a number of importantfunctions. Such functions include: (1) checking and handling tracking,(2) processing received messages and (3) processing messages to send.Each function may be a separate process and processed in parallel orsequentially. Each process may be a separate thread. In the Hoozwaremobile application embodiment of FIG. 3, the functions are processedsequentially.

While it is running, the Hoozware mobile application checks 301 whether“tracking” is enabled for the member's mobile phone. Most mobile phoneshave position tracking capability, such as GPS, which can be used todetermine the geographical location of the phone, and hence, the member.If tracking is enabled the mobile phone automatically transmits 302 thelocation information of the mobile phone to the Hoozware system server100. Transmission of the location information may use any convenientmethod, including an SMS message, email, telephone call and the like. Iftracking is not enabled, in the embodiment as shown, the member isprohibited from receiving promotions and viewing certain venueinformation.

Next, the Hoozware mobile application checks 303 whether there is amessage to receive and process. If so, the application receives themessage and checks 304 to see if it is a promoter (i.e., venue orsponsor) promotion. If so, the promotion is provided to, or madeaccessible by, the member. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the promotion isplaced 305 in a special promotion message box on the member's mobilephone. If there are no other un-read promotion in the member's promotionmessage box the member is notified that there is a new promotionavailable. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the member can configure howthey wish to be notified of such new promotion. Typical notificationmethods include visual, auditory and tactile signals.

If the message is not a promotion, in the embodiment of FIG. 3 themessage is assumed to be venue information which was previouslyrequested by the member. In an embodiment not shown here, the Hoozwaremobile application checks the message to confirm that the receivedinformation is venue information. The venue information is displayed 306on the member's mobile phone, such as provided by the examples of FIGS.2A and 2B.

Next, the Hoozware mobile application checks 307 whether the member hasrequested to send a message. This check 307 is also done next if it wasdetermined 301 that tracking was not enabled. If the member hasrequested to send a message a check 308 is done to see if the request isfor venue information. If so, the member's current “mood” is submitted309 to the Hoozware system server 100 along with a request for a list ofvenues best matching the demographics and characteristics defined by themember's mood. If the member was not being tracked at the time of thisvenue information request, tracking will be enabled 310 on their mobilephone for a period of time. A typical period of time is until the end ofthe current predefined tracking window.

If it was determined 308 that the member's request was not for venueinformation, in the embodiment of FIG. 3 the request is assumed to be tosend media information, so media is sent 311. In an embodiment not shownhere, the Hoozware mobile application checks the request to confirm thatit is to send media information. Media information sent by the membertypically includes text, audio (including audio recordings of the crowd,music/band and voice annotated member comments), images and/or video,and may be sent in any convenient format, including SMS, MMS, email, aphone call, and the like. In one embodiment, if the member enters textinto their mobile phone, uses their mobile phone to record sound, take apicture or record video, the Hoozware mobile application will infer thatthe member wishes to post characteristic information about a venue andso the Hoozware mobile application will prompt the member to submit suchmedia to the Hoozware system server 100.

At this point, as well as if it had been determined 307 that the memberwas not requesting to send a message, control is returned to thebeginning where the Hoozware mobile application checks 301 whethertracking is enabled.

FIG. 4 is a simplified logic flow diagram for a software applicationwhich may run on the Hoozware system server, a.k.a. data processor 100.A commercial Hoozware system server application is typically much morecomplex; however, FIG. 4 exemplifies some of the basic elements thattypically exist in such more complex application. The Hoozware systemserver application performs a number of important functions. Suchfunctions include: (1) receiving and processing messages from members,(2) receiving and processing messages from promoters and (3) storingmember traits, venue demographics and venue characteristics. Eachfunction may be a separate process and processed in parallel orsequentially. Each process may be a separate thread. In the Hoozwaresystem server application embodiment of FIG. 4, the functions areprocessed sequentially.

Once the Hoozware system server application is loaded onto the Hoozwaresystem server and started 400 it checks 401 whether there is a messageto receive. If not, the application continues to check 401 until thereis a message to receive. Once there is a message to receive, theHoozware system server application checks 402 whether the message isfrom a member. If not, in the simple embodiment of FIG. 4 the Hoozwaresystem server application assumes the message is from a promoter. In anembodiment not shown here, the Hoozware system server application checksthe message to confirm that it is from a promoter.

A promoter message typically includes a promotion and instructionsregarding to which members the promotion is to be sent. Suchinstructions typically include demographics and behaviors that membersmust possess to receive the promotion. Optionally, such instructionsfurther include the maximum number of members to which the promotion isto be sent. Optionally, such instructions further include specificmembers, typically referred to anonymously by a member identifier, towhich the promotion is to be sent. A promotion typically comprises drinkspecials, cover charge discounts, access to VIP lounges, transportationoffers, parking specials, food specials, merchandise offers, lodgingspecials, music downloads, passes to other events, retail gift cards,and the like. The message is sent 403 to, or made accessible by, one ormore members by the Hoozware system server 100 following the promoter'sinstructions. At this point, control is returned to checking 401 whetherthere is a message to receive.

A promotion may be redeemed by the receiving member in a variety ofways, including showing the promoter's agent the promotional materialdisplayed the member's mobile phone, where such promotional materialtypically includes an offer identifier. The promoter's agent is anyonepermitted by the promoter to provide to the redeeming member the goodsand/or services promoted by the promotional material. The redeemingmember may be required to show the promoter's agent the member'spersonal-field photo on their mobile phone, or other identification, toconfirm that they are the intended member for the promotional material.The member may receive rewards points for accepting the promotionalmaterial. For more discussion on rewards, refer to the previous detailsof one embodiment of the subject invention in Section 3.2 covering anexample Rewards Program.

If the check 402 regarding whether the message to be received is from amember is true, the message is received and queried 404 to see if itcontains location information of the member's mobile phone (a.k.a.mobile communication device). If so, in the embodiment of FIG. 4 theHoozware system server 100 predicts 405 whether the member is at aparticular venue. If so, the member's traits are combined with thetraits of other members estimated to be at the venue to provide 406demographics for the venue. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, other membersmay be alerted 407 to the change in venue demographics. Typically, amember will receive such an alert 407 only if they have requested to bealerted if a demographic of interest to them has moved above or below apredefined level, or if a member of interest, such as a friend or groupmember, has arrived at or left the venue. At this point, control isreturned to checking 401 whether there is a message to receive.

If the message that is received and queried 404 does not containlocation information the message is queried 408 to see if it contains arequest for venue information. If so, the message contains the sendingmember's “mood” and/or associated desired demographics and venuecharacteristics with weighting factors. The Hoozware system server 100processes the desired demographics and venue characteristics withweighting factors to determine the ranked list of venues that bestmatches the member's desires. Typically, such a ranked list of venuesincludes a measure of how close each listed venue matches the member'sdefined mood. The ranked list of venues and measures of match are sent409 typically to the member's mobile phone and/or home computer. At thispoint, control is returned to checking 401 whether there is a message toreceive.

If the message is queried 408 and does not contain a request for venueinformation, in the embodiment of FIG. 4 the message is assumed tocontain media information. In an embodiment not shown here, the Hoozwaresystem server application checks the message to confirm that it containsmedia information. The media information in the message is added 410 tothe database 103 that the Hoozware system server 100 accesses. The mediainformation is added 410 to the section of the database 103 for thevenue the media pertains to. At this point, control is returned tochecking 401 whether there is a message to receive.

FIG. 5 is a simplified logic flow diagram for a software applicationwhich may be accessed by, or run on, a promoter's office computer. Acommercial Hoozware promoter application is typically much more complex;however, FIG. 5 exemplifies some of the basic elements that typicallyexist in such more complex application. Such an application is typicallydownloaded to the promoter's office computer (or alternately, to amobile phone, other data terminal, etc.) from the Hoozware website or byloading the application from a CD to the promoter's computer. TheHoozware promoter application may also run on the Hoozware system server100 and be accessed, such as by a web browser, using an office computer,mobile phone, other data terminal, communication device and the like.The Hoozware promoter application performs a number of importantfunctions. Such functions include: (1) receiving member demographics andbehaviors, (2) receiving member demographics at venues, (3) selectingpromotions and specifying instructions regarding to which member thepromotions should go, and (4) sending the promotion and instructions tothe Hoozware system server 100. Each function may be a separate processand processed in parallel or sequentially. Each process may be aseparate thread. In the Hoozware promoter application embodiment of FIG.5, the functions are processed sequentially.

Once the Hoozware promoter application is loaded onto the promoter'scomputer, or accessed by a web browser, and started 500 it allows thepromoter to continually view 501 the demographics and behaviors ofmembers in the Hoozware system. In the embodiment of FIG. 5, theHoozware promoter application allows the promoter to also view thedemographics at one or more venues.

The Hoozware promoter application allows the promoter to select 502promotional materials to send or post, and to specify instructionsregarding which members to send to, or make accessible, the promotionalmaterials. The Hoozware promoter application also allows the promoter tosend 503 the promotional materials and instructions to the Hoozwaresystem server 100, which then sends to, or makes accessible, thepromotional materials to members according to the instructions.

FIG. 6 is a simplified logic flow diagram for a software applicationwhich may be accessed by, or run on, a member's home computer. Acommercial Hoozware member's home application is typically much morecomplex; however, FIG. 6 exemplifies some of the basic elements thattypically exist in such more complex application. Typically, themember's mobile application (FIG. 3) and the member's home application(FIG. 6) are similar. In fact, typically, the member's mobileapplication provides a subset of functionality of the member's homeapplication. The member's home application is typically downloaded tothe member's home computer from the Hoozware website or by loading theapplication from a CD to the member's computer. The Hoozware member'shome application may also run on the Hoozware system server 100 and beaccessed, such as by a web browser, using a home computer, mobile phone,other data terminal, communication device and the like. The Hoozwaremember's home application performs a number of important functions. Suchfunctions include: (1) viewing venue demographics and characteristics,and determine which friends and groups are at which venues, (2)uploading media content concerning venue characteristics to the Hoozwaresystem server 100, (3) viewing, redeeming or requesting a promotion, (4)defining and editing personal traits and related information, (5)selecting a tracking window and enabling/disabling tracking, (6)defining and editing moods, (7) defining friends and groups, (8)specifying visibility to others and (9) reviewing, adding and/orredeeming rewards. Each function may be a separate process and processedin parallel or sequentially. Each process may be a separate thread. Inthe Hoozware member's home application embodiment of FIG. 6, thefunctions are processed sequentially.

Once the Hoozware member's home application is loaded onto the member'shome computer, or accessed by a web browser, and started 600 it checks601 to see if the member has requested a venue search. If so, themember's “mood” and/or associated desired demographics and venuecharacteristics with weighting factors are sent to the Hoozware systemserver 100. The Hoozware system server 100 processes the desireddemographics and venue characteristics with weighting factors todetermine the ranked list of venues that best matches the member'sdesires. Typically, such a ranked list of venues includes a measure ofhow close each listed venue matches the member's defined mood. In theembodiment of FIG. 6, the ranked list of venues and measures of matchare sent to the member's home computer for viewing 602. At this point,in the embodiment of FIG. 6, control is returned to checking 601 to seeif the member has requested a venue search.

If the member has not requested a venue search, in the embodiment ofFIG. 6 the Hoozware member's home application checks 603 to see if themember has requested to upload media content. If so, the member isprovided with functionality to conveniently upload 604 to the Hoozwaresystem server 100 text comments, voice annotations, photos, recordedaudio and video clips from a venue, and the like. The media is stored inthe portion of the database 103 for the corresponding venue. At thispoint, in the embodiment of FIG. 6, control is returned to checking 601to see if the member has requested a venue search.

If the member has not requested to upload media content, in theembodiment of FIG. 6 the Hoozware member's home application checks 605to see if the member has requested to access promotions. If so, themember is provided with functionality to conveniently access promotionsrelevant to the member. Such promotions may be stored and accessed fromthe Hoozware system server 100 or stored locally on the member's homecomputer. The member may view promotions 606 currently relevant to themember, redeem such promotions or request that a promotion be offered tothe member. At this point, in the embodiment of FIG. 6, control isreturned to checking 601 to see if the member has requested a venuesearch.

If the member has not requested to access promotions, in the embodimentof FIG. 6 the Hoozware member's home application checks 607 to see ifthe member has requested to maintain their member profile. If so, themember is provided with functionality to conveniently maintain theirmember profile. Such member profile information is typically stored onthe Hoozware system server 100 or stored locally on the member's homecomputer. The member may define 608, edit or view their member profile.The member profile typically includes personal traits that are combinedwith traits of other members to produce member demographics. Such traitstypically comprise: age, sex, sexual orientation and preference,education, race, religion, smoker/non-smoker, marital status (e.g.,single/married/committed/divorced), parental status, financial status,occupation, home zip code, political affiliation, pictures, both directand anonymous contact information, friend status, group status, as wellas other online dating categories including physical attributes (e.g.,height, weight, eye color, hair color, balding, body type, etc.), etc.At this point, in the embodiment of FIG. 6, control is returned tochecking 601 to see if the member has requested a venue search.

If the member has not requested to maintain their member profile, in theembodiment of FIG. 6 the Hoozware member's home application checks 609to see if the member has requested to set tracking parameters. If so,the member is provided with functionality to conveniently set trackingparameters 610. Such functionality typically allows the member to selecta tracking window. Tracking windows are predefined periods of time inwhich a member's location is automatically transmitted from their mobilephone to the Hoozware system server 100. Setting tracking parameters 610also include the ability to enable or disable tracking, regardless ofthe tracking window selected. At this point, in the embodiment of FIG.6, control is returned to checking 601 to see if the member hasrequested a venue search.

If the member has not requested to set tracking parameters, in theembodiment of FIG. 6 the Hoozware member's home application checks 611to see if the member has requested to define moods. If so, the member isprovided with functionality to conveniently define, edit, view andselect moods 612. Mood definitions may be stored in the database 103 onthe Hoozware system server 100 and/or on the member's home computerand/or the member's mobile communication device. Mood definitionsinclude the name of the mood and the associated desired demographics andvenue characteristics with weighting factors. At any time there is adefault mood in effect that is used by the Hoozware system server 100when a request is received by the member for a venue search; however, anew default mood may be selected at any time using either the Hoozwaremember's home application or mobile application. At this point, in theembodiment of FIG. 6, control is returned to checking 601 to see if themember has requested a venue search.

If the member has not requested to define moods, in the embodiment ofFIG. 6 the Hoozware member's home application checks 613 to see if themember has requested to define friends and/or groups. If so, the memberis provided with functionality to conveniently define, edit, view andselect friends and groups 614. Friend and group definitions may bestored in the database 103 on the Hoozware system server 100 and/or onthe member's home computer and/or the member's mobile communicationdevice. Friend definitions include the name of the friend. Groupdefinitions include the name of the group, the group leader and theassociated group members. Friend status and group status may be includedby a member as parameters of interest in a venue search request. At thispoint, in the embodiment of FIG. 6, control is returned to checking 601to see if the member has requested a venue search.

If the member has not requested to define friends and/or groups, in theembodiment of FIG. 6 the Hoozware member's home application checks 615to see if the member has requested to set their visibility to others. Ifso, the member is provided with functionality to conveniently define,edit, view and select visibility 616. Visibility settings may be storedin the database 103 on the Hoozware system server 100 and/or on themember's home computer and/or the member's mobile communication device.A member may allow various entities to view certain personalinformation. Typical entities comprise: all members, a subset of members(such as friends and/or groups), venues and sponsors. Personalinformation that a member can typically restrict visibility to comprisesany of their personal traits, such as: age, sex, sexual orientation andpreference, education, race, religion, smoker/non-smoker, marital status(e.g., single/married/committed/divorced), parental status, financialstatus, occupation, home zip code, political affiliation, pictures, bothdirect and anonymous contact information, friend status, group status,as well as other online dating categories including physical attributes(e.g., height, weight, eye color, hair color, balding, body type, etc.),etc. A typical visibility setting for a first member is that a secondmember cannot view any trait of the first member if the second memberdoesn't allow the first member to view the same trait of the secondmember. At this point, in the embodiment of FIG. 6, control is returnedto checking 601 to see if the member has requested a venue search.

If the member has not requested to set their visibility to others, inthe embodiment of FIG. 6 the Hoozware member's home application assumesthat the member wishes to access rewards. If so, the member is providedwith functionality to conveniently enter items that provide rewardpoints 617, review the member's current number of reward points and/orredeem goods and/or services using the member's points. Rewardinformation may be stored in the database 103 on the Hoozware systemserver 100 and/or on the member's home computer and/or the member'smobile communication device. For discussion on how a member may receiverewards points for accepting the promotional material, refer to theprevious details of one embodiment of the subject invention in Section3.2 covering an example Rewards Program. The member typically may usetheir rewards point to receive goods and/or services. Such goods and/orservices typically comprise: drink specials, cover charge discounts,access to VIP lounges, transportation offers, parking specials, foodspecials, merchandise offers, lodging specials, music downloads, passesto other events, retail gift cards, and the like. At this point, in theembodiment of FIG. 6, control is returned to checking 601 to see if themember has requested a venue search.

FIG. 7 is a graph exemplifying how demographics information at a venuemay be presented to a member, venue or sponsor, for viewing on a mobilephone, data terminal, home or office computer screen, and the like. Inthis example, the ordinate (“Y axis”) 700 represents the demographics dat venue v, such as, the percentage of members at venue v that possesstrait d. The abscissa (“X axis”) 701 represents the time t. FIG. 7 showsan historical curve 702 that represents a function of previous nightswhere the demographic d for venue v were recorded over time. Also inFIG. 7 is a curve showing the actual 703 recorded demographics d forvenue v up to the point 704 corresponding to the present time of 11:40p.m., where the demographics d denote that 36% of the crowd possesstrait d.

FIGS. 8-75 illustrate use and operation of the second embodiment of thesubject system. In typical operation, the Hoozware System is a mobilephone service that informs members “Who Is Where” (i.e., Hoozware), andwhat's happening at venues, such as clubs (nightclubs, bars, lounges andthe like). The Hoozware System brings together mobile communicationdevice users and venues. In one commercial embodiment, the HoozwareSystem is free to members, and venues pay to send offers to members. Inanother commercial embodiment, members pay on a time and/or featureusage basis. In yet another commercial embodiment, venues pay on a timeusage basis.

Using their mobile communication device, such as a mobile telephone,PDA, pocket computer, and the like, a member can:

-   -   (1) view timely club information, such as: (a) crowd        demographics (size, gender mix, age, etc.); (b) peer reviews        (e.g., “This place rocks!”); (c) club descriptions (e.g., no        cover charge, full menu, etc.); (d) events schedules (e.g., live        band tonight); (e) directions; etc.;    -   (2) meet up with existing friends and meet new friends; and    -   (3) receive valuable club coupons (e.g., free drinks, 2-for-1        drinks, free cover charge, etc.).

The Hoozware System enables venues to target offers to members of thesystem who like to go to venues such as theirs. A recipient member canimmediately receive notification and view venue offers on their mobilecommunication device. A venue can send out an offer at a specific time,or send an offer having a specific time window for redemption. Venuescan target a specific demographic or group of members to draw inbusiness during specific, or “slow,” times. Venues can track thedemographics of members who patronize their place of business. Venuescan announce “what's happening” by posting their events calendar,business description and directions.

For venues to use the Hoozware System, first they sign up. They thenlogin via the web and update their account information, business profileand events calendar. At any time, a venue can login to their account andview the demographics of members Checked-in to their venue. The venuemay use the web interface to enter an offer type (e.g., 2-for-1 drink,discounted cover charge, food discount, etc.), the timing of the offerand to which members (either presently at the venue or not) the offershould be sent.

The following is an illustrative scenario: It's Saturday evening andRachael wants to go out . . . but where? She pulls out her mobile phoneand clicks her web browser to connect to the Hoozware website. Her“Party Mood” is still the default so she presses “Find Clubs”. Her phonedisplays “Dragon Bar” first in a list of San Francisco clubs since ithas a score of 89%, the highest percentage match to her mood criteria.She checks out a short video clip of the crowd posted by anotherHoozware member to the Hoozware website. Looks pretty happening. Rachaelpreviously defined her Party Mood to include DJ Hip Hop, no cover, drinkdiscounts, lots of friends, guys who pass her “Cool Guy” filter and aclub where people currently there say it “rocks.” She goes to Dragon Barand “Checks-In” to the club using the Hoozware System on her phone andquickly rates a few simple features of the club for other Hoozwaremembers to see. Since she checked-in she gets to “spin” the virtualroulette wheel that the Hoozware System displays on her phone to see ifshe can win a prize. Tick, tick, tick, clunk. Cool! She won a freedrink. She shows the prize coupon displayed on her phone to thebartender who promptly gives her the free vodka-cranberry she ordered.She's stoked. Hmm. Now, who's here? She uses the Hoozware System to do aquick search using her phone and sees that she has eight friends andthree guys here who pass her very specific “Cool Guy” filter. Could thisbe the night she meets Mr. Right? Rachael does a quick review of Chris'profile. Wow! He's cute, and they have so much in common. He's even fromher hometown of Cleveland. They exchange anonymous text messages usingthe Hoozware System before deciding to meet at the bar. The rest isHoozware history . . . .

To use Hoozware, a user signs up over the web to become a member.Typically the member will sign up using a desktop computer or mobilecommunication device such as a smart mobile phone, personal digitalassistant (PDA), pocket computer and the like. Typically, non-memberscan access limited features of the Hoozware System. To sign up, anindividual completes a Member Profile, including (a) DemographicInformation, (b) optional Social Information and (c) optional CrushInformation. The Demographic Information is used when the HoozwareSystem compiles the venue crowd statistics; the Social Information isused to share a member's interests with other members; and CrushInformation is used when the member participates in the “crush matching”dating element of the Hoozware System.

During the sign-up process, an individual also provides variousPreferences. A member uses their Preference settings to manage their (a)favorite venues, (b) friends list, (c) “Filters” for screening members,(d) “Moods” for ranking venues, (e) alert notifications, (f) locationprivacy settings, and the like.

Once signed up, members can use their mobile communication device ordesktop computer to search for venues, which search may be based ondesired criteria called a “Mood.” A Mood may include such criteria as(a) geographical distance away; (b) number of friends, crush matches orcrowd size in attendance; (c) Reviews (including Surveys and Postings(including Overall Recommendation, Comments and Media)) submitted bymembers in attendance at the venue; (d) venue characteristics; (e)combinations of the above criteria as well as other criteria.

After identifying a venue, a member may inspect details about the venue,including viewing (a) current crowd demographics; (b) list of memberspresent; (c) real-time member Surveys and Postings; (d) discount offersfrom the venue; (e) venue description; (f) venue events; (g) directionsto the venue; and the like.

Members can also search for other members, which search may be based ondesired criteria called a “Filter.” A Filter may include criteria toidentify (a) Friends; (b) Crush Matches; (c) individuals based onselected Demographic Information; and the like. Once an individualidentifies another member, the individual may view the Profile (e.g.,background and interests) of such member, and send messages to andreceive messages from the member, facilitating meeting existing and newfriends at a venue.

Members can also receive, view and redeem offers sent to them by venuesor other parties. Members may also receive advertisements sent to themby advertisers.

At a venue a member “Checks-In” using their mobile communication device.The Check-in procedure typically includes submitting a “Review” whichtypically includes a required “Survey” and an optional “Posting.” TheReview typically requires answering at least one Survey question wheretypically the member must estimate something about the venue scene thatis of interest to another member. Typically a member will be asked toestimate and answer from three to six Survey questions. The memberReview may also include an optional Posting, including such elements asan Overall Recommendation, written Comments and Media (such as photos,videos and audio clips) of the venue scene. Media uploads and downloadson a mobile communication device are typically supported using MMS.

After a member Checks-in to a venue and submits the Survey, theytypically get a chance to receive a Prize, where typically the HoozwareSystem presents them with a game of chance. One exemplary game of chanceis where the member gets to select one of four drink shakers presentedon the member's mobile communication device. When the member selects ashaker, the screen on their mobile communication device is refreshedwhere the selected shaker is replaced with either an empty or full drinkglass. A full drink glass represents that the member won a drink Prize.Another illustrative game of chance is where the member gets to press akey on their mobile communication device to initiate the spinning of aroulette wheel. The wheel spins and stops at a position indicatingwhether the member has won a Prize or not.

In either illustrative example, if the member wins a Prize, the Prize islisted in an Offer Center with other offers they might already havereceived from a venue or advertiser, and the member is typically given alimited time in which to redeem the Prize. By limiting the time totypically between two and five minutes, members are not incentivized totry to fake a Check-in and submit a Survey when they're not at a venuein order to win a Prize, since if they're not already at the venue, theywon't have time to use the Prize they're trying to win. Memberstypically are limited such that they cannot Check-in to a venue morethan every 15-30 minutes. In this way, if there are multiple venues inclose proximity to one another, a member cannot quickly attempt a fakeCheck-in and submit a Survey at multiple venues in an attempt to see ifthey can win a Prize at one of the venues before deciding which venue togo into.

To incentivize members present at a venue to help update the venue scenefor other members not present to view, typically after Checking-in amember can submit a new Survey every two hours and receive anotheropportunity to win a Prize, such as by playing a game of chance. Anymember Checked-in to a venue may submit an updated Survey as often asthey'd like; however, they only get a chance to win a Prize after aminimum amount of time has passed since they have taken their mostrecent chance to win a Prize. Typically, venues are required to coverthe cost of honoring redemption of a Prize.

FIGS. 8-53 below illustrate how the Hoozware System operates for membersin a second embodiment. Various modifications may be introduced fordifferent situations, the check-in procedure changed, the game altered,information expanded, incentives varied, and the like.

FIG. 8 provides exemplary information requested to open a member accountusing a web browser 800 on a desktop computer. An account may similarlybe opened using a mobile communication device. This web view is entitledNew Registration 801. Fields that are requested in this example include:Username 802, Password, Re-type password, Display name, First name, Lastname, Email, Mobile number, Mobile carrier and Cellphone model. In thisexample, “rwinters” 803 is entered as the username. The username istypically the name the member uses to login to their account. TheDisplay name (in this case “racewinner”) is the name other members maysee associated with the member's information. Other members may also seethe First name, and may do a Member Search using any of the First name,Last name and Display name.

To ensure that a computer recognizable Mobile carrier is entered, a“down-arrow” 804 may be used such that when it is selected (e.g., byclicking with a computer mouse or tabbing to it and pressing “OK”) aselectable list of mobile carriers is displayed. Similarly, to ensurethat a computer recognizable Cellphone model is selected, a down-arrow805 may be used, such that when it is selected a selectable list ofcellphone models is displayed. When this New Registration 801 page iscompleted, the prospective member selects Submit 806. Alternately, ifthe prospective member elects not to open a member account at this time,they may select Cancel 807.

FIGS. 9-12 refer to information about a member and the opportunity tofind a partner, referred to as “Crush Information.” In this example, themember fills out the information using a web browser on a desktopcomputer.

FIG. 9 exemplifies Demographic Information 901 a member is required toprovide as part of completing their profile 900. In this example, themember completing their profile is Rachael. Required fields that must befilled out include: Gender 902, Date of birth 907 and Zipcode 910.Typically, a member's Gender 902 is viewable by all other members;however, a member's Date of birth 907 is not viewable directly, but amember's age, calculated using the Date of birth 907, is viewable. Also,a member's Zipcode 910 is not viewable by other members, but the livingdistance between members, as calculated using the distance betweenZipcodes 910, is viewable. The slider 911 indicates that this screen maybe continued.

For Gender 902, the member may select and check the box 904 next to Man903 or the box 906 next to Woman 905 (which is check in this example).This this example, each of the month, day and year corresponding to Dateof birth 907 have a down-arrow to ensure a computer-readable entry. Forinstance, the down-arrow 909 is used to select the year of birth 908.Typically, if the member attempts to enter information directly into oneof the boxes, such as the year 908, the box will display the closesmatch to an acceptable entry.

FIG. 10 exemplifies Social Information 1000 that a member may optionallyprovide. Typically, any such Social Information 1000 that is entered isviewable by all members. In this example, the Social Information 1000includes the ability to enter: a Statement 1001 (including a text box1002), Media Files 1003, Residence 1004 city and state, Hometown 1005city and state, Interests 1006 including Music 1007, Dancing, Movies andTelevision. The Media Files 1003 may include photo images, video clips,audio tracks, documents, Power Point presentations, other media typesand the like. The list of Interest 1006 may be extensive to cover a verybroad range of possibilities. The slider 1010 indicates that this screenmay be continued. Other information that Social Information 1000 mayinclude is one or more Drink Faves (shore for “Drink Favorites”), one ormore Club Faves, one or more Band/Artist Faves, one or more Book Faves,spoken Languages, Education, Occupation, Political View, and the like.In the example of FIG. 10, Music 1007 allows the member to specifywhether they are interested in music by checking the Yes box 1008 or theNo box. If the Yes box 1008 is checked, they may be allowed to check anyof a variety of additional boxes related to Music 1007, such as Pop,Rock, Hip-hop, Jazz 1009 (which is checked), Classical, and the like.Similarly, checking Yes to Dancing may expose a list of dances tospecify. Similarly, checking Yes to Movies may expose a list of movietypes to specify, such as Drama, Action, Romance, Sci-fi, Comedy, andthe like. Similarly, checking Yes to Television may expose a list of TVtypes to specify, such as Sitcom, Game, Reality, Talk, Documentary, andthe like.

FIG. 11 exemplifies Crush Information 1100 that a member may optionallyprovide. Typically, a member entering any such Crush Information 1100may indicate who may view it. The member may indicate if they areparticipating in the Crush Matching program by checking the box 1101.Participation includes various privileges. As with Social Information1000, Crush Information may include a statement, entitled here About me1102, with associated text box 1103. The member may also include MediaFiles 1104 which may be more aimed to attract someone in a dating sensethan the Media Files 1003 provided in the Social Information 1000. Otherexemplary fields for the Crush Information include Status 1105, (sexual)Orientation, Body type, Height, Smoking (frequency), Drinking(frequency), Ethnicity, Religion, Income, Have children, Want children,and the like. The slider 1106 indicates that this screen may continue.

FIG. 12 represents a continuation of FIG. 11. FIG. 12 provides astatement 1200 about what a member is looking for in their “crush,”i.e., ideal date. The member is able to specify which pre-defined filter1201 they'd like to use to help search for their crushes. The member mayselect who may review their Crush Information 1100, including Allmembers 1203, All members participating in Crush Matching, Crush Matchesand Other members 1204. When Other members 1204 is selected, typicallyby checking the associated box, the member may be allowed to type into abox 1205, or select from a list, the names (Display names, First names,Last names, etc.) of members they want to allow to see their CrushInformation 1100.

FIGS. 13-23 provide user preferences and various aspects of informationincluded in the database of the Hoozware System. In this example, themember fills out the information using a web browser on a desktopcomputer.

FIG. 13 is one screen a member completes when filling out My Preferences1300, where the preferences are various parameters used to controloperation of the Hoozware System. One such preference is My Clubs 1301.This preference is sometimes also called My Fave Clubs. My Clubs 1301 isa list of venues a member wishes to particularly keep track of. The listmay be user generated and maintained. The list may be populated withsome automation based on inference by the Hoozware System. As shown,there are three entries in the My Clubs 1301 list, including Ruby Skye1302, Dragon Bar and Matrix. As shown, a member may modify an entry,such as Ruby Skye 1302, by selecting Edit 1303 or Delete 1304 in thesame row. Alternately, a member may click on the name of the venue or ina box next to it to modify the entry. As shown, to add a new entry, themember selects Add New 1305. When finished, the member selects Done1306.

FIG. 14 provides another preference called My Friends 1400. My Friends1400 is a list of members that a member wishes to particularly keeptrack of and provide viewing privileges to. Adding a member as a friendmay require acceptance by the member being added, or adding a member asa friend may simply require a member to enter the added member's Displayname. FIG. 14 shows a list of nine friends: joeyb 1401, audreysf,baddabing, ski4life, icandy, jsbrecken, palygirlsrule, beachdog andtunafilms. As shown with My Clubs 1301, there are various selections toadd and modify the list, including View 1402, Delete 1403, Add New 1404and Done 1405.

FIG. 15 provides another preference called My Filters 1500. Thispreference is sometimes also called My Member Filters. My Filters 1500is a list of labeled filters (i.e., formulae) for specifying how toproduce a “filtered” list of members from all members or another list ofmembers. FIG. 15 shows a list of four filters: Same Hometown 1501,Hip-hop & Dancing, Ideal Guy and Cool Guy 1502. Filters may be memberdefined, as well as, initially populated with Hoozware System defaults.As with My Clubs 1301, there are various selections to add and modifythe list. If it is desired to modify the Cool Guy 1502 filter, Edit 1503is selected. In another example, the each element of the list may beclicked on directly to select for editing.

FIG. 16 exemplifies the information a member may select when defining orediting a filter, e.g., when selecting Edit 1503 to edit the Cool Guy1502, 1600 filter. Typically, a member can require as part of theirfilter any Demographic Information 1601, Social Information 1605 andCrush Information 1700. Regarding Demographic Information 1601, a membercan typically specify their requirements for a variety of fieldsincluding Gender 1602, Age 1603 and Distance 1604. Regarding SocialInformation 1605, a member can typically specify their requirements fora variety of fields including Residence 1606, Hometown 1607, Interests1608 including Music 1609, Dancing, Movies, Television, and the like.The slider 1610 indicates that this screen continues.

Regarding Crush Information 1700, a member can typically specify theirrequirements for a variety of fields including Status 1701, Orientation,Body type, Height, Smoking, Drinking, Ethnicity, Religion, Income, Havechildren, Want children, and the like. The filter can then be saved asthe same name when editing by selecting Save 1702. The filter can besaved with another filter name by selecting Save As 1703. Alternately,editing or creating the filter may be canceled by selecting Cancel 1704.The slider 1705 indicates that this screen is a continuation of anotherscreen.

FIG. 18 provides another preference called My Moods 1800. Thispreference is sometimes also called My Club Moods or My Venue Moods. MyMoods 1800 is a list of labeled criteria for specifying how to sort,i.e., rank, a list of venues. FIG. 18 shows a list of six moods:Rachael's Party Mood 1801, Closest Distance, Most Members, Most Friends,Closest & Most Friends and Most Offers. Moods may be member defined, aswell as, initially populated with Hoozware System defaults. As with MyClubs 1301, there are various selections to add and modify the list. Ifit is desired to modify Rachael's Party Mood 1801, Edit 1802 isselected. In another example, the each element of the list may beclicked on directly to select for editing.

FIG. 19 exemplifies the information a member may select when defining orediting a mood, e.g., when selecting Edit 1802 to edit Rachael's PartyMood 1801, 1900. Typically, a member can require as part of their moodinformation provided by a venue, as well as, information estimated orotherwise provided by another member regarding a venue. Three exemplarycategories of features a member may use to define a mood include ClubFeatures 1901, Attendance Features 1908 and Other Features 1911. Forinstance, Club Features 1901 are provided by a venue when they sign upto participate in the Hoozware System. Club Features 1901 may includesuch features as Atmosphere 1902, Entertainment 1904, Food 1905,Services 1906, Events 1907, and the like. Atmosphere 1902 may includesuch fields as Dress code 1903, Lighting, Romantic, Good for kids, andthe like. Entertainment 1904 may include such fields as TV, Pool, Darts,Video games, Juke box, and the like. Food 1905 may include differentkinds of food offerings, such as Full menu, Bar food, and the like.Services 1906 may include fields such as Coat check, Valet, and thelike. Events 1907 typically lists the types of events the venue has ontap, such as Live music, Comedy, DJ music, Happy Hour, and the like.

Attendance Features 1908 are features based on the members inattendance. The Attendance Features 1908 may include DemographicInformation, Social Information and Crush Information on members who arechecked-in or otherwise known to be at a venue. A member can use a mooddefinition to rank venues based on their member filters, includingfilters for their Crush Matches. In FIG. 19, if a member selects(typically by clicking on it with a computer mouse) one of theunderlined fields that end with an ellipsis, that opens up a “browse”window where the member may search for and select desired entries from alist of possible entries. Alternately, the member may type in thedesired entry name in the box, such as the box 1910, separating eachentry with a delimiter such as a comma or semicolon.

Other Features 1911 typically include Offers, such as drink, food andcover-charge discounts. Other Features 1911 may also allow a member torank venues based on their proximity, i.e., Club distance. The slider1912 indicates this screen is continued.

FIG. 20 provides Review Features 2000 as another exemplary category offeature a member may use to define a mood. The Review Features 2000 mayinclude estimates provided by members regarding the venue “scene,” e.g.,estimates of the crowd size, typical attendee age, gender mix, music,whether people are dancing, quality of the drinks, bar service, covercharge and the like. (How these estimates are entered will be discussedwith subsequent figures.) Crowded 2001 designates the estimate for thecrowd size. To require this review feature in a mood, a member selectsthe box 2002. In one embodiment of the invention, the member may alsoset the target crowd size they are desiring. For example, if the memberdesires a “packed” crowd, the use the down-arrow 2003 to select thevalue “3” 2004. Alternately, the member could also type a “3” directlyinto the associated box. The legend showing selections and theirmeanings is provided to the right 2005. The slider 2006 indicates thispage is continued from a previous page.

FIG. 21 provides another preference called My Alerts 2100. My Alerts2100 is a list of labeled criteria for specifying when, and optionallyhow, to notify a member of the occurrence of an event of their interest.FIG. 21 shows a list of 4 alerts: Offer at any club 2102, Offer atcurrent club, Check-in by a friend 2103, Message from a crush match.Alerts may be member defined, as well as, initially populated withHoozware System defaults. As with My Clubs 1301, there are variousselections to add and modify the list. If it is desired to modify theCheck-in by a friend 2103 alert, Edit 2104 is selected. In anotherexample, the each element of the list may be clicked on directly toselect for editing.

FIG. 22 exemplifies the information a member may select when defining orediting an alert, e.g., when selecting Edit 2104 to edit Check-in by afriend 2200, 2103. Typically, an alert allows the member to select aTrigger Event 2201. In this example, selecting the down-arrow 2203causes the selectable trigger events to be listed in the box 2202. Suchselectable trigger events typically include Check-in, Offer, Message,and the like. If Check-in or Offer is selected as the trigger event, themember typically must also specify Clubs to Consider 2205. If Check-inor Message is selected as the trigger event, the member typically mustalso specify the Members to Consider 2204.

FIG. 23 provides another preference called My Location 2300. My Location2300 is a list of criteria for specifying to which members the HoozwareSystem can provide your check-in status and location. In addition to aMaster Switch 2301, FIG. 23 shows a list of five examples of groups ofmembers that can know your location: All members 2302, Friends, CrushMatches, Current Club Crowd and Other members 2303. Typically, to selectone of these, a member selects the associated check box. If “Othermembers” 2303 is selected, the defining member enters one or moremembers into the box 2304 (separating each member by a delimiter) whoshould be given permission to know their check-in status and location.Alternately, by clicking on “Other members” 2303, a “browse” window willopen and provide a list of members to choose from.

FIG. 24 shows an exemplary menu of selections displayed on the screen2401 of a mobile communication device 2400, such as a mobile telephone.Typical elements on the screen include a communication signal indicator2402 and a battery level indicator 2403. Also in this example is aHoozware logo 2404, as well as, indicators for master enables for alerts2405, location 2406 and crush matching 2407, and indication 2408 thatthe screen 2401 is displaying the Main menu.

On the Main menu 2408 of FIG. 24 are selections for Check-in 2409,(submit or view a) Review 2410, Check-out 2411, (find) Clubs 2412,(view) Offers 2413, (find) Members 2414, (send or read) Messages 2415,(set or view) My Preferences 2416, as well as set the master switchesfor Alerts 2417, Location 2418 and Crush (matching) 2419. To perform aclub search, Clubs 2412 is selected. In general, to select an option, ifthe screen 2401 of the mobile communication device 2400 is atouch-sensitive screen, the desired option is typically tapped with astylus. If the screen 2401 is not touch sensitive, then typically abutton on the mobile communication device 2400 is used to navigatebetween options, and another button, typically labeled “OK”, is used toselect the desired option after navigating to it and highlighting it. IfClubs 2412 is selected, program control is passed to the Clubs menu.

In general, throughout much of the following figures the word “club” isused; although, it may represent the more general category of venue.

FIGS. 25-26 demonstrate how to search for and select a particular clubusing a mobile communication device; where, in this example, theselected club is referred to as “Dragon Bar.”

FIG. 25 is the Clubs 2500 menu. An exemplary label for the screen isClub Finder 2501. To do a search the member must select the desiredfield under Consider only 2502. Typically, Consider only 2502 refers togeographical regions used to narrow the search space. In the example ofFIG. 25, box 2504 is a drop-down box of choices. To drop down the box2502, typically a down-arrow 2503, or equivalent icon, is used.Typically when the box 2504 is dropped down, a button on the mobilecommunication device 2400 is used to navigate between the selections,and the “OK” button is used again to select the desired option afternavigating to it and highlighting it. Alternately, if the list ofselections is short, a separate check-box can be displayed for eachselection. Typical choices for the box 2504 include neighborhoods,cities and other geographically identifiable regions. Although not shownin this example, there can be a “state” box or other box to first narrowdown the geographical region to a more manageable area. In this example,the neighborhood called SF-Mission is selected. Other example optionsinclude All Clubs, My Fave Clubs, etc.

Next, the box 2507 corresponding to Ranking Mood 2505 is selected,typically using the down-arrow 2506. In this example, Rachael's PartyMood is selected, although, any previously defined mood from My Moodsmay be selected, such as Closest Distance, Most Members, Most Friends,etc. The box 2507 may also include a selection called “Define/editmood,” or equivalent, which allows the member to define a new mood oredit an existing mood. Once the geographical region and mood areselected, the member selects Search 2508. Alternately, if the name ofthe desired club is known, it may be entered in the box 2510 under theName or street 2509 title, and then selecting Lookup 2511. Alternately,if the name of the desired street one or more clubs are on is known, thestreet name (optionally with the street number) may be entered in thebox 2510 followed by selecting Lookup 2511. If just a street name isentered, typically a list of all clubs located on that street will bedisplayed.

Back 2512 may be used to go back to the previous screen. If the screenis being displayed in a web browser, the browser typically will havesuch a “back” capability built in. Select 2513 may be used to select ahighlighted element of the interface.

FIG. 26A is a repeat of FIG. 25 with Search 2600, 2508 highlighted. Whenselected, the Club Search 2601 menu of FIG. 26B is displayed. In thisexample, as indicated by the heading 2602, there are 192 clubs that aresorted, where only the first five are displayed (e.g., due to screenspace constraints). The club with the highest rank in this example isDragon Bar 2603, with a ranking (i.e., “closeness match) score of 89%2604. In this example, to display the next five lower ranked clubs Next2605 is selected. To display a map showing the geographical location ofa club, and optionally other information of interest about the club, aclub is highlighted (as Dragon Bar 2603 is highlighted) and Map 2606 isselected.

FIGS. 27-36 illustrate various aspects and characteristics of the clubreferred to as “Dragon Bar” all displayed on a mobile communicationdevice. In particular, FIG. 30 shows three curves versus time: the totalnumber of men at the club, the total number of women at the club and theoverall total number of members at the club.

If the highlighted club Dragon Bar 2603 in FIG. 26B is selected, themenu for Dragon Bar 2700 is displayed. At the bottom, the Search Score2712 value of 89% is displayed. At a club menu such as this menu forDragon Bar 2700, there are four selections to choose from: Crowd 2701,Reviews 2703, Offers 2703 and Description 2704. Next to Crowd 2701 is abrief summary of demographics and related crowd information for memberswho are checked-in at the club. In this example: 14M 2705 indicates thatthe crowd checked-in at Dragon Bar includes 14 men; 17W 2706 indicatesthat the crowd includes 17 women; 26yrs 2707 indicates that the typicalage of the crowd is 26 year old; and the number 6 followed by the hearticon indicates that the member has six people in the crowd who matchtheir currently designated filter for crush matching. Note that thegeneral term “typical age” is used, and the algorithm for determining itis not specified. Typical age may be determined using the average,median or some other determination, including where a portion of thehigher and/or lower ages may be thrown out to avoid skewing of thenumber.

Next to Reviews 2702 is a brief summary of related review information,some of which is provided in real time at the club. For instance, thetwo solid stars and one hollow star followed by a parenthetical number 5and the time of 10:22 P indicate that based on 5 reviews over somedesignated time period (e.g., the past 30-60 minutes), with the mostrecent review coming at 10:22 p.m. on the current day, that the averageOverall Recommendation for the club is two out of a possible threestars.

Next to Offers 2703 is a number 3, indicating that the member has threeoffers pending for use at Dragon Bar.

If Description 2704 is selected, more general information as provided byclub (e.g., Dragon Bar) is presented.

If Crowd 2701 is selected as shown in FIG. 27, the Crowd 2800 menu isshown as exemplified in FIG. 28. The top summary heading 2801 indicatesthat there are currently 31 members checked-in at Dragon Bar, and 23 ofthe members have information that is viewable to the member using thephone. To sort the viewable members, the viewing member fills in theShow 2802 box 2804 using the drop-down arrow 2803 to select CrushMatches. The resulting members may be further limited by selecting thebox 2805 to show Only members with Photos.

Based on these elections in this example, summary information for allfour resulting members is displayed. The first entry 2806 in the listfor robinhood has a number of identifying icons displayed. The cameraicon 2807 indicates that this member has at least one photograph.Alternately, depending on data and screen refresh rates, a thumbnail ofthe photo may be displayed.

The check-mark icon 2808 indicates that the member is checked-in (whichis actually redundant information here, since this list is already knownto be a list of members checked-in at Dragon Bar).

The circle 2809 with the cross in it indicates check-in Locationvisibility: shaded means check-in Location is visible, where if the leftside is shaded it means the other member's check-in Location is visibleto you, and where if the right side is shaded, it means your check-inLocation is visible to them. In a simpler embodiment, a fully shadedcircle 2809 means your check-in Location is visible to the indicatedmember.

The heart 2810 indicates Crush Information visibility and Crush Matches:shaded means that Crush Information is visible, and blinking means “is aCrush Match.” If the left side of the heart is visible/blinking it meansthe other member's Crush Information is visible to you/you are one oftheir Crush Matches; if the right side of the heart is visible/blinkingit means your Crush Information is visible to them/they are one of yourCrush Matches. In a simpler embodiment, a fully shaded heart 2810 meansthe indicated member passes your selected Crush Match filter.

The M,29 indicates that robinhood is a 29-year-old male.

Besides Crush Matches, examples of other selectable options for box 2804include: All Viewable, Friends, Same Hometown, Cool Guys, Women,Demographics or any other defined filter or system keyword, etc.

FIG. 29 is the Crowd menu similar to FIG. 28 but where next to Show 2900the option Demographics 2902 is selected using the down-arrow 2901.Gender 2903, Age 2904 and Distance 2905 information are then summarized,with the option to graph the information. Distance 2905 indicates howfar the crowd individuals who are checked-in live from you as calculatedusing Zipcodes. Associated with Gender 2903 is the Graph 2906 selection.

FIG. 30 exemplifies the Gender vs. Time 3001 plot that is displayed in aGraph 3000 screen when Graph 2906 of FIG. 29 is selected. The solidcurves to the left of the “Now” 3009 vertical line are actual data forthe current evening; the dotted curves to the right of the “Now” 3009vertical line show historic data for the same night of the week. Theabscissa 3003 is a time axis and the ordinate 3002 is the # People axis.The legend for the three curves is provided by the box 3004. The curve3005 designated by X represents Women; the curve 3006 designated by +represents Men; and the curve 3007 designated by O represents the totalof Men and Women. This plot shows that at approximated 10:00 p.m. thenumber of men begins to exceed the number of women present. This plotalso shows that historically, between 11:30 p.m. and midnight that thenumber of women stops increasing and starts to decrease. Attendees mayfind this information useful in helping to determine when they want toarrive or leave, and club managers may use such information to determinewhen they want to send out offers to men an to women to achieve moredesirable curves.

FIG. 31 is similar to FIG. 27, except that now Reviews 3100 is selectedwhich brings up the Reviews menu 3200 of FIG. 32. In FIG. 32, theheading 3201 indicates that there are 42 reviews. Reviews includereal-time, member-submitted Surveys, which are estimates of the clubscene. Reviews also include Postings, which include (overall)Recommendations, Comments, Media, and the like. Using drop-down arrow3202 Recommendations is selected in the box 3203 in the Show heading3204. The (overall) Recommendation Average heading 3205 indicates thatthe recommendation average for the club (i.e., Dragon Bar) is two out ofa possible three stars based on five reviews going back in time (e.g.,30-60 minutes) from 10:22 p.m. There are 18 recommendations where thefirst 10 are displayed. The slider 3209 indicates that if you scroll thescreen down you will see the remainder of the first 10 recommendations.

Each individual review may be summarized with the Display name of thesubmitting member, a submission timestamp and how many reviews themember has submitted. A particular review may be selected to see itsdetails. As shown previously in FIG. 28, icons indicate the existence ofcertain components or items of interest. In this case, the camera icon3207 indicates that there is at least one photo associated with thefirst recommendation 3206 submitted at 10:22 p.m. by neotrax. Neotraxgives a one of three stars overall recommendation for the club (i.e.,Dragon Bar), and s/he has submitted a total of 58 recommendationsregarding various clubs so far. The text icon 3208 indicates that thereis a free-form Comment associated with the third recommendationsubmitted at 9:53 p.m. by paintboysteve. Paintboysteve gives the club atwo of three stars overall recommendation, and he has submitted 16recommendations regarding various clubs so far.

Besides Recommendations, other Show 3294 options include: All Reviews,Crowded, Music, Dancing, Gender Mix, Age, Comments, Photos, Video Clips,Audio Clips, and the like.

FIG. 33 is similar to FIG. 27, except that now Offers 3300 is selectedwhich brings up the Offers menu 3400 of FIG. 34. In FIG. 34, the heading3401 indicates that the member has 3 offers at Dragon Bar. Usingdrop-down arrow 3403 “Earliest expiration” is selected in the box 3404in the “Sort by” heading 3202. The first offer 3405 indicates that themember has an offer that expires at closing time the current evening fora 2-for-1 drink. As sorted, this is the offer that expires the soonestof all offers at the club. Other “Sort by” options include: Discountlevel, Item type, and the like. An offer can be selected to view orredeem.

FIG. 35 is similar to FIG. 27, except that now Description 3500 isselected which brings up the Description menu 3600 of FIGS. 36A and 36B.In FIG. 36A, a text description 3601 of the club is provided. The slider3602 indicates that the screen is continued. The screen of FIG. 36Acontinues in FIG. 36B and provides options to view the following aboutthe club (i.e., Dragon Bar): Features 3604, Events 3605, Media 3606, Map3607, Directions 3608, and the like. The slider 3603 indicates that thescreen is a continuation of another screen.

FIGS. 38-43 illustrate the various stages of the check-in involvingselection of a club, estimation of the demographics of patrons at theclub, evaluation of the club, the opportunity to play a game of chanceto win a prize, redeeming the prize, and changing the evaluation of theclub later.

Similar to FIG. 24, FIG. 37 shows the Main menu 3700 on a mobilecommunications device except that now Check-in 3701 is selected whichbrings up the Check-in menu 3800 of FIG. 38. In FIG. 38, the drop-downarrow 3802 is used to select a club entry in the box 3803 under theheading for Clubs 3801. Once a club is designated, Map 3805 may beselected to see a geographical map and optionally other information,including directions, about the designated club. Also, once inside aclub and after a club is designated, Check-in 3804 may be selected tocheck-in to the club. Checking-in to a club is typically required toredeem offers, get a chance to “play” for a door prize, inform otherswhere you are, and the like.

FIG. 39 is the Review menu 3900, which is part of the standard check-inprocedure. A Review typically includes: (a) a mandatory real-time Survey3901 and (b) an optional Posting 3905. The Survey is a set of questionsthe member checking-in is required to estimate. The Posting typicallyincludes: (a) an Overall Recommendation, (b) free-form text Comments,and (c) Media. Media typically includes: (a) Photos, (b) Video Clips,(c) Audio Clips and (d) other documents.

The heading 3901 asks the member checking-in to submit a Survey of theclub (i.e., the Dragon Bar). The Survey provides a number of questionsto estimate, typically between one and six, but typically the number ofquestions is five. In this embodiment, the survey questions askedpertain to: Crowded 3902 (with example answers 3903 being: empty, so-so,packed, and the like), Music (with example answers being: none,recorded, Di, live, and the like), Dancing (with example answers being:nobody, some, everyone, and the like), Gender Mix (with example answersbeing: mostly men (dudes), even, mostly women (chicks), and the like)and Typical Age (with example answers being: 20's, 30's, 40's & up, andthe like). In this example, if the estimate of Crowded 3902 is “packed,”the member would select “3” 3904 on their mobile communication device.Other survey questions may include: drink quality, drink price, covercharge, ethnic mixture, efficiency of bar service, wait to get in, andthe like.

In FIG. 39, to answer a question the member presses the correspondingnumber on their phone. In general, there could be more or fewerquestions, different members might be asked different questions and themember may respond using any convenient method or technology. In otherwords, in order to provide more complete demographics of all patrons atthe club for others to search on, rather than relying on automatictracking of only members (using tracking technologies such as GPS, WiFi,Bluetooth, etc.) to compile only the demographics of members checkedinto a club, members present at the club provide the Hoozware Systemwith real-time estimates of various demographics categories for allpatrons at the club.

Members can also provide real-time Postings of the atmosphere and otherclub characteristics. For instance, if there were just one member at aclub with 100 patrons in attendance, when the member checked in theymight provide a Survey estimating that the club was crowded; there was arocking DJ that packed the dance floor; the club had an even mix of menand women; and the typical patron age was 20-something. Thus, adifferent member doing a club search would be able to assess the factthat the club atmosphere was exactly what they were looking for, eventhough there was only one member checked in. Of course, in the future,when most club patrons use the Hoozware System, and when GPS, WiFi,Bluetooth or any other applicable tracking technology is widelysupported, the demographics that the Hoozware System associates with theclub will be more accurate since such demographics will be based on alarger amount of actual member location data than mere estimation.

As a reward to the member for providing the Survey they typically get achance to win a door prize, such as a discounted drink. Afterchecking-in, the member must typically reconfirm their check-inperiodically, e.g., every two hours, or they will be automaticallychecked-out. After reconfirming their check-in, they are typicallygranted another opportunity to win a door prize by submitting anotherSurvey. A checked-in member may submit a Survey as often as they like,but the member's most recent Survey (or, in general, their Review)places the previous one for any compiled club averages, and the memberdoesn't get a chance to win a door prize more often that at a maximumfrequency, which is typically every two hours.

Surveys must be submitted while at the club and using the member'smobile communication device. The optional Postings may be submittedwhile at the club or anytime after leaving, and may be submitted by themember's mobile communication device or from the member's account usinga desktop computer.

When Posting 3905 is selected in FIG. 39, the Posting menu 4000 of FIG.40 is brought up. The heading 4001 indicates that the followinginformation is the Posting for Dragon Bar. Postings are optional and areattributed to the posting member. The first element of the posting is(overall) Recommendation 4002. The heading 4003 is a list of exemplarypossible responses, including: lame, so-so and rocks. Of course, therecan be other responses. In this example, “rocks” corresponds to enteringthe number “3” 4004. Free-form personalized Comments 4005 may be enteredin the corresponding text box. Media 4006 may also be attached, wheremedia includes any of a variety of elements, including but not limitedto still images, moving images, sound images, presentations,combinations of the preceding, and the like.

FIG. 41 shows a game of chance given to a member after checking-in andsuccessfully completing a Survey as part of a Review. This particulargame includes a roulette wheel 4101. Typically the member will press akey on their mobile communication device to initiate spinning of thewheel roulette 4101. In this embodiment, the member has a 1-in-4 (i.e.,25%) chance of winning a 2:1 (i.e., 2-for-1) drink. If a winning sector4102 of the roulette wheel 4101 stops at the indicator 4103, the memberis informed 4104 that they have won a prize. If a member wins a prize,they receive a Prize Offer to that effect in their Offer Center thatthey may redeem. Typically, the member has a short limited time in whichto redeem such Prize Offer in order to ensure that a memberinappropriately checking-in while not at the club cannot redeem suchPrize Offer before it expires.

Other games include a modified “shell game,” where the member selectsone of a group of items. For instance, there may be four drink shakerspresented, and the member has a one-in-four (25%) chance of picking thedrink shaker hiding a full drink. Typically, a club participating in theHoozware System will cover the cost of redeeming the Prize Offer.

In more general terms, after checking-in and successfully submitting aSurvey, a member present at a venue uses their mobile communicationdevice to communicate with a computer server, where a result of thecommunication is associated with the member. The members' mobilecommunication device transmits a first signal concerning the venue tothe computer server when the member is present at the venue with theirmobile communication device. In response to the first signal, a secondsignal is transmitted from the computer server to the mobilecommunication device, wherein the second signal solicits an action fromthe member. The member then performs the action, and their mobilecommunication device transmits a third signal to the computer serverindicating their action. Then, a fourth signal is transmitted from thecomputer server to the member's mobile communication device indicatingthe result of the member's action.

FIG. 42 shows how to redeem a Prize Offer. Using their mobilecommunication device, the winning member selects the Prize Offer intheir Offer Center if it is not already being displayed. The Prizeheading 4200 indicates the contents being displayed are a Prize Offer.Typically the club's logo 4201 is displayed. The type of prize won 4202is also displayed. The heading 4203 indicates that the Prize Offer waswon at 11:45 p.m. that evening at Dragon Bar. The heading 4204 indicatesthe details of the Prize Offer as being “Buy 1 drink, get 1 drink free.”Each offer is typically tagged with a code, such as the code 4205. PrizeOffers typically have a limited time by which they must be used. Herethe remaining time to redeem the Prize Offer is 4:56 minutes 4206.Typical times range from one to 10 minutes, with the typical time beingfive minutes. The message 4207 indicates that the Coupon is deletedafter usage! The Prize Offer is valid until the timer counts down tozero. During the time the Prize Offer is valid, the coupon displayed onthe member's mobile communication device must be shown to a member ofthe club's wait staff. The wait staff should verify that the counter isnot yet zero. After viewing the coupon, the member or wait staff shouldpress the button corresponding to Done 4208 to designate the coupon ashaving been “used.” Typically, the winning member can request a physicalcoupon from the waitstaff if they wish to redeem their Prize Offer at alater time.

Note that to prevent an unauthorized user from using someone else'soffers, a member's Offer Center typically can only be accessed by themobile communication device of the member associated with the offers.Further toward this goal of authenticating the redeemer of an offer,when redeeming an offer, the photo of the member associated with theoffer may be displayed on the coupon.

Similar to FIG. 37, FIG. 43 shows the Main menu on a mobilecommunications device, except that now Review 4300 is selected whichbrings up the Review menu 3900 of FIG. 39, which has already beendiscussed in detail. Another difference in the Main menu display of FIG.43 compared to the Main menu display of FIG. 37 is that since the memberis checked-in, the heading 4301 designates that the member is Checked-inat Dragon Bar. The Main menu display of FIG. 43 also has a heading 4302that designates that the member will be automatically checked-out in 45minutes.

FIGS. 44-47 illustrate the use of a mobile communication device with theHoozware System for locating and viewing other members, including“Crush” members, employing filters for the selection.

Similar to FIG. 43, FIG. 44 shows the Main menu on a mobilecommunications device, except that now Members 4400 is selected whichbrings up the Members menu 4500 of FIG. 45. An exemplary label for thescreen is Member Finder 4501. To do a search the member must select thedesired field under “Consider only” 4502. Typically, “Consider only”4502 refers to groups of members or filters used to narrow the searchspace. In the example of FIG. 45, box 4504 is a drop-down box ofchoices. To drop down the box 4502, typically a down-arrow 4503, orequivalent icon, is used. Typically when the box 4504 is dropped down, abutton on the mobile communication device 2400 is used to navigatebetween the selections, and the “OK” button is used again to select thedesired option after navigating to it and highlighting it. Alternately,if the list of selections is short, a separate check-box can bedisplayed for each selection. Typical choices for the box 4504 includegroups like Friends, Crush Matches, Blocked List, and the like, as wellas filters like Same Hometown, Cool Guy and the like. In this example,“Same Hometown” is selected. The member may also check the box 4505 todesignate that the member search result should include “Only memberswith Photos.”

Once the narrowing restriction in box 4504 is selected, the member mayselect Search 4506. Alternately, if the name (e.g., Display name, firstor last name), phone or email of the desired member is known, it may beentered in the box 4507 under the “Name, phone or email” title, and thenselecting Lookup 4508. If the name entered is not unique, the resultwill typically include a list of members passing the desired filter. Thelist may be sorted in a variety of way, including in alphabetical order.

FIG. 46A is a repeat of FIG. 45 with Search 4506 highlighted. Whenselected, the Member Search 4600 menu of FIG. 46B is displayed. In thisexample, as indicated by the heading, all four of the results aredisplayed. The member with the closest distance in this example isbeachdog 4601 checked-in at Dragon Bar, at a distance of 1.2 miles away.To display information of interest about a member, the member ishighlighted (as midwester is highlighted) and selected. To display a mapshowing the geographical location of a member, the member is highlighted(as midwester is highlighted), and Map 4602 is selected. As shownpreviously in FIGS. 28 and 32, icons associated with the listed membersindicate the existence of certain components or items of interest.

When a member is highlighted, as is midwester in FIG. 46B, and thenselected, the member's information accessible by the searching member isdisplayed, as shown in FIGS. 47A and 47B. Note that the slider 4714 inFIG. 47A indicates that the information displayed is continued to asubsequent screen. Likewise, the slider 4715 in FIG. 47B indicates thatthe information displayed is continued from a previous screen. TheDisplay name associated with the information, in this example, midwester4700, is displayed. The member's first name, Chris 4701, is displayed,followed by other associated information, where the display may includeicons such as have already been discussed, including: Display name 4702,gender and age 4703, check-in status 4704, Location visibility 4705,Crush Match status 4706, where checked-in 4707, distance away 4708,primary photo 4709, Social Information Media 4710, Crush Information4711 (if visible to the searching member), Postings 4712, the SocialInformation Statement 4713 and other information 4716 such asinformation the member listed in their Social Information. FIG. 47Bprovides selections to view or perform the following with respect to themember (i.e., midwester): add as a Friend 4717; expose your CrushInformation 4718 to the member; add an Alert 4719 regarding the member;send a message 4720; expose your Location 4721 to the member; Block 4722the member from communicating with you, and potentially from receivingany information about you; and the like.

FIGS. 48-50 illustrate the use of a mobile communication device forsending messages to other members of the Hoozware System.

Similar to FIG. 44, FIG. 48 shows the Main menu on a mobilecommunications device, except that now Messages 4800 is selected whichbrings up the Messages menu 4900 of FIG. 49. In FIG. 49, the heading4901 indicates that the member has 4 messages. Using drop-down arrow4902 “Earliest date” is selected in the box 4903 in the “Sort by”heading 4901. The first message 4904 indicates that the member hasreceived a message from baddabing on Mar. 13, 2006. The message subjectwas to the effect that the Matrix was rocking. As sorted, this messageat the top is the oldest, i.e., received the earliest. Other “Sort by”options include: Oldest date, subject, alphabetical, and the like. Tochoose a message to view or respond to, navigation keys on the member'smobile communication device are used to highlight and select a desiredmessage, such as the message from midwester 4905. Alternately, tocompose a new message, Compose 4906 is selected.

If the message from midwester 4905 is selected, it brings up a screenexemplified by FIG. 49B. This screen indicates that it is Message 3 4907and contains some summary information and icons pertaining to midwester.To view midwester, Member View 4908 is selected. To view information onthe club midwester is at, Club View 4909 is selected. The message 4910,including message subject, salutation, body and signature are displayed.The following options pertain to the currently selected message: Delete4911 deletes the message; Previous 4912 displays the previous message inthe list in FIG. 49A; Reply 4913 opens a reply message to midwester;Next 4914 displays the next message in the list in FIG. 49A; and Compose4915 opens a new message.

In FIG. 49B, Reply 4913 is highlighted. If selected, a reply message isopened as shown in FIG. 50. Messages 5000 is the menu label. In thereply message, the recipient midwester 5002 is automatically filled in,as is the subject 5004, salutation 5006 and signature 5010. To choosefrom a variety of prompted member recipients, the To: box 5001 isselected; to choose from a variety of prompted subjects, the Subject:box 5003 is selected; choose from a variety of prompted salutations, theSalutation: box 5005 is selected; choose from a variety of promptedbodies, the Body: box 5007 is selected; choose from a variety ofprompted signatures, the Signature: box 5009 is selected; and to browsefor attachments, the Attach: 5011 box is selected. Alternately, any ofthe corresponding boxes 5002, 5004, 5006, 5008, 5010 may be filledmanually by typing. To cancel the message Cancel 5013 is selected, andto send the message to the intended recipient Send 5014 is selected.

Example prompted recipients include defined groups (e.g., Friends) andother members. Example prompted subjects include: Call Me!; Check ItOut!; Good Tunes!; I'm Here!; I'm Outta Here!; It's Rockin'!; Let Me BuyYou A Drink!; Let's Chat!; Let's Meet!; Meet @ the Bar in 5 mins!; NicePics!; Nice Profile!; We Match!; Where Are You!; Wink!; You're Cute!;You're Hot!; and the like. Example prompted salutations include: Hello.;Hey.; Hi.; Hiya.; and the like. Example prompted bodies include: Cool.;I'll be there.; Maybe later.; No thanks.; Thanks.; Yes.; and the like.Example prompted signatures include the sending member's Display name,their first name, their last name, and the like.

An alternate embodiment for a message is where for each heading (To,Subject, Salutation, Body and Signature) there is (a) a drop-down boxlisting each of the prompted responses along with an entry that says,“Use Custom Box,” and a (b) box where custom text can be entered.Typically associated with the Subject heading is a drop-down box withthe list of clubs. When used, the Subject is augmented with the selectedclub name. Typically associated with the Signature is a box to select to“Include my mobile number.” Thus, the member can easily inform therecipient of their mobile number, which otherwise is not provided to therecipient.

FIGS. 51-53 display promotional offers from the club to the members onthe screen of a mobile communication device.

Similar to FIG. 48, FIG. 51 shows the Main menu on a mobilecommunications device, except that now Offers 5100 is selected whichbrings up the Offers menu 5200 of FIG. 52A. FIG. 52A displays four clubswith offers awaiting the member: Adaptive Path has one offer; Dragon Bar5201 has three offers; Hemlock Tavern has one offer and Ruby Skye hasone offer.

Similar to FIG. 34, in FIG. 52B, the heading 5202 indicates that themember has 3 offers at Dragon Bar. Using drop-down arrow 5204 “Earliestexpiration” is selected in the box 5205 in the “Sort by” heading 5203.The first offer 5206 indicates that the member has an offer that expiresat closing time the current evening for a 2-for-1 drink. As sorted, thisis the offer that expires the soonest of all offers at the club. Other“Sort by” options include: Discount level, Item type, and the like. Anoffer can be selected to view or redeem.

When an offer in FIG. 52 is highlighted and selected, as is the firstoffer 5206, the offer is displayed as exemplified in FIGS. 53A and 53B.FIGS. 53A and 53B exemplify how to redeem an offer. Using their mobilecommunication device, a member selects the desired offer in their OfferCenter (e.g., one of the offers listed in FIGS. 52A and 52B) if it isnot already being displayed. The label of the screen in FIG. 53A isOffers 5300. Typically the club's logo 5301 is displayed. The type ofoffer 5302 is also displayed. The heading 5303 indicates that the offeris “Offer 1” at Dragon Bar. The heading 5304 indicates the details ofthe offer as being “Buy 1 drink, get 1 drink free.” The heading 5305indicates that the offer expires at closing on the evening of Mar. 14,2006. To use the offer, the member selects “Use Now” 5306.

When “Use Now” 5306 is selected, the offer heading 5303 typicallychanges to say the time that the offer was used 5307, e.g., at 11:03p.m. Each offer is typically tagged with a code, such as the code 5308.Offers typically have a limited time by which they must be used, toprevent the member from going to multiple wait staff attempting to usethe same coupon multiple times. Here the remaining time to redeem theoffer is 1:56 minutes 5309. Typical times range from one to 10 minutes,with the typical time being two minutes. The offer is valid until thetimer counts down to zero. During the time the offer is valid, thecoupon displayed on the member's mobile communication device must beshown to a member of the club's wait staff. The wait staff should verifythat the counter is not yet zero. After viewing the coupon, the memberor wait staff should press the button corresponding to Done 5310 todesignate the coupon as having been “used.”

FIGS. 54-75 below illustrate a how the Hoozware System operates for thevenues in the second embodiment. Various modifications may be introducedfor different situations, information expanded, incentives varied, andthe like.

FIGS. 54-63 illustrate the fields for a venue representative to loginand provide their venue account and profile information.

FIG. 54 is the login screen to access the Hoozware System. The HoozwareSystem in this embodiment is accessed via a web browser 5400 at the URL5401. Instead of the H? logo in previous figures, FIG. 54 displays aperson near a magnifying glass 5402. As is customary for login screens,the member is prompted to enter their username in the box 5403 and theirpassword in the box 5404. The remainder of the screen may be used forgeneral information, advertisements, video promotions, details about theHoozware System, and the like.

FIG. 55 is a screen labeled “Venue Console for My Venue” 5500. Usingthis console, various groups of venue information may be accessed,including View information 5503, Promotions information 5404, My VenueProfile information 5405, My Venue Account information 5406, the abilityto Logout 5507, and Help 5508. “My Venue Account” information 5406presents a screen of information the venue (e.g., club, bar, lounge,etc.) completes. The Administrator Primary Contact information 5501 isentered in the boxes. Such contact information typically includes aname, office telephone number, mobile number, fax number and emailaddress. Although not shown, there may be additional fields 5502 for anAdministrator Secondary Contact; Marketing Primary Contact; MarketingSecondary Contact, and the like.

FIG. 56 presents “My Venue Profile” information. Such informationtypically includes a box 5600 to enter the venue name, as well asaddress, phone, fax, website and directions box 5601. The directions box5601 have an associated slider bar 5602 with up/down arrows for causingthe text in the directions box 5601 to scroll so the amount of text inthe directions box 5601 is not limited to the box dimensions. The slider5603 indicates that the information on this screen is to be continued.

FIG. 57 is a continuation of FIG. 56. In FIG. 57 the venue may enter aShort Summary 5700 and a Long Summary 5701 about themselves. Typically,the Short Summary 5700 is used when displaying on small screens, such asscreens of a mobile communication device; typically the Long Summary5701 is used when displaying on large screens, such as desktop computermonitors.

FIG. 57 also allows a venue to provide media for the Hoozware System todirect to users when they request more information about a club they'reconsidering. As shown in this embodiment, there are spots for threedifferent media entries; however, by selecting New 5709, new mediaentries may be added. In this example, the first media entry is apicture named photo1.jpg 5703. The name of the file may be typed intothe associated box. Alternately, by selecting Media1 . . . 5702 a browsewindow is typically opened to help locate the desired file. In thisexample, to delete an entire media entry the associated box 5705 ischecked and then Delete 5708 is selected. The second media file in thisexemplary embodiment is a sound file named sound1.wav 5706, and thethird media file in this example is a movie file named video1.wmv 5707.Typically associated (e.g., next to) the media file is a caption. In theexample of FIG. 57 the caption entered for photo1.jpg is “Our dancefloor” 5704.

Other elements typically part of the “My Venue Profile” informationinclude an events calendar. Typically, to view or edit venue event, thevenue representative selects the calendar icon 5711 or the descriptivewords “Events Calendar . . . ” 5710. As before, the slider 5712indicates this screen is continued on another.

FIG. 58 provides still more information a venue can complete for theHoozware System to make available to users, i.e., members, andoptionally to guests, of the system. Such information includes theavailability and type of Food 5800; the Atmosphere 5805; the Dress Code5806; available Entertainment 5807; the existence of a Coat Check 5808;whether the venue is “Good for Kids” 5809; and the like. FIG. 58provides various example elections for each category just listed; forexample, elections for the Food 5800 category may include: No food 5801,Bar food 5803, Full menu 5804, and the like. To select an election sucha “No food” 5801, typically one checks the associated box 5802. Theslider 5810 at the bottom indicates that this is the last screen for MyVenue Profile.

FIG. 59 provides an example embodiment of an Events Calendar 5900 whichis opened when either the calendar icon 5711 or text Events Calendar . .. 5710 are selected in FIG. 57. As displayed, two months at a time,February 5901 and March 5903, are presented. By selecting the rightarrow 5905 the two months are each incremented by one month; similarly,by selecting the left arrow 5904 the two months are each decremented byone month. The lighter colored days of February (1-12) represent daysalready passed, which can only be viewed but no longer edited; whereas,the darker colored days (13-28) represent today into the future, whichcan be both viewed and edited. An underlined number, such as number 135902, signifies that the number may be selected to bring up the detailedcalendar for that day. Selecting (e.g., clicking on) number 13 5902 inthe February 2006 calendar brings up the Current Events List 6000 ofFIG. 60. Selecting Back 5906 reverts to the previous screen.

FIG. 60 is a detailed display of an exemplary Current Events List 6000for the date Feb. 13, 2006. Each of the four underlined events shown issummarize by five event fields, including: Type 6001, an event Name6002, an event Start Time 6003, an event End Time 6004, and a binaryindication of whether Dancing 6005 is appropriate. To delete a listedevent, one selects the associated box, such as box 6013 next to HappyYour 6006, and then selects Delete 6012. To delete all events, one caneither individually select each associated box, or select the single box6011, which automatically selects each box below it. To add a new event,one selects New 6014 and then completes the various event fields whichappear in a new event window. The first example event listed is forHappy Hour 6006 starting at 4:00 p.m. 6008 and ending at 6:00 p.m. 6009,where dancing is specified as not really appropriate with an entry of No6010. Note that the spot for a Name is left blank 6007 for thisparticular event.

FIG. 61 is the first of three screens (i.e., together with FIGS. 62 and63) that exemplify the information a venue typically enters when addinga new event, such as when New 6014 is selected in FIG. 60. The screen inFIG. 61 is referred to as a New Event screen 6100. First the Type 6101of event is selected. In this example, DJ Music 6102 is specified. Thedown-arrow 6103 is used to expand the box of selections (as shown),which in this example include: DJ Music, Live Music, Recorded Music,Comedy Show, Dance Performance, TV Sports, Activities, Happy Hour, andthe like. When any of the music choices 6105 (e.g., DJ Music 6104, LiveMusic or Recorded Music) is selected, the lightly colored Genre box 6106is displayed to provide a context-sensitive set of subsequent choices.(When displayed in context, the Genre box 6106 is not typically lightlycolored, but is only lightly colored here to indicate that it remainsgrayed out until it is in context.) In this example, the list of musicgenre is so long that it has been figuratively wrapped 6108 to continuewith the remainder of the selections 6109. The genre selected in thisexample is Hip Hop 6107. Other music genre choices include: 60's, 70's,80's, 90's, A Capella, Acid, Acoustic, Alternative, Blues, Christian,Classic Rock, . . . , Soul, Techno, Vocal, and the like.

Similar to the context-sensitive music genre, if TV Sports 6110 wereselected as the Type 6101, a TV Sports list 6111 of options may beboldly displayed. Possible TV Sports choices include: Football,Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Tennis, and the like. In this exampleBaseball 6112 has been selected.

Also similar to the context-sensitive music genre, if Activities 6113were selected as the Type 6101, an Activities list 6114 of options maybe boldly displayed. Possible Activities choices include: Pool, Darts,Poker, and the like. In this example Poker 6115 has been selected. Theslider 6116 indicates this screen is continued.

FIG. 62 is a continuation of the New Event screen of FIG. 61. Here thename of the DJ event is specified as “Frenchy Lefreak” 6200. As withvenue information, event information may also have a Short Summary 6201and a Long Summary 6202 for mobile and desktop screens, respectively.The time the Doors Open 6203 is specified, as is the Start Time 6204 andEnd Time 6205 for the event. Cover charge 6206 is specified as notexisting based on a check in the No box 6207. If there were a covercharge, the No box 6207 would not be checked, and the lightly coloredcost box 6208 and starting time 6209 for the cover charge would becomeboldly colored, indicating they are relevant. Dancing 6210 is specifiedby checking either the Yes box 6211 or No box 6213. Since the Yes box6211 is checked, the starting time 6212 for dancing is relevant.

If the event repeats, the Recurrence box 6214 is selected. TheRecurrence box 6214 may operate like the other popular calendaringsystems, such as the Recurrence option in the calendar feature ofMicrosoft Outlook®, where various recurrence parameters may be selected.The slider 6215 indicates that this slide is a continuation and there isstill another slide to come.

FIG. 63 is the final screen example here for adding a new event, asindicated by the slider 6311 at the bottom. In this figure, variouswebsite links are provided, including a link 6300 to information thevenue provides regarding the event; as well as, a link 6301 theperformer (i.e., the “talent”) provides to their own website. In asimilar manner that a venue added media to embellish information aboutthem in FIG. 57, so can a performer, or a venue, add media about anevent. In FIG. 63, the filename photo1.jpg 6303 may be typed in to thebox, or the underlined word Media1 . . . 6302 may be selected to bringup a browser window to allow one to search for the desired media file ina file system. To delete a media listing, the associated box 6305 ischecked and Delete 6306 is selected. Each media entry has an optionalCaption, such as “Frenchy” 6304 in the photo1.jpg example. Selecting New6307 allows a new media entry to be stored. Back 6308 caused the screento go back to the previous display. Selecting OK 6309 causes the enteredinformation to be stored and closes the NewEvent window; and Cancel 6310closes the NewEvent window without storing any modifications made.

FIGS. 64-69 illustrate the fields used for presenting the demographicsof members at a venue, where FIG. 65 is an illustrative graph of thedata tabulated in FIG. 64.

FIG. 64 again displays the Venue Console, with focus this time on View6400. In one exemplary embodiment there are three categories of View6400: Member Demographics 6401, Venue Characteristics 6402 and Report6403. FIG. 64 shows how a member's demographics may be specified. Onecan specify they are interested in member demographic data from onlytoday (in this example, Feb. 13, 2006) 6404. Since the associated box isnot checked, the text “Today” is lightly colored. To specify a range ofdates over which member demographic data should be assembled, Range 6405is selected, as well as Start Date 6406 and End Date 6410. Oneconvenient way that the dates may be entered is to use the drop-downarrow 6408 to select from a list of allowable dates, including“November” 6407. The month, day and year may be individually selectedfor both the Start Date 6406 and End Date 6410, or, alternately, it maybe convenient to select a calendar 6409 that opens a new window andallows the user to select the desire date from an image of a monthlycalendar, similar to what was depicted in FIG. 59 for specifying eventdates. If a range of dates is selected, different slices of the data maybe selected 6411 and averaged, or otherwise mathematically operatedupon. A slice of data may be selected by specifying one or more days ofthe week over which to perform the average. Other selections includespecifying whether to use members only at the venue's venue 6419, ormembers that attended all venues 6420 over the selected day or range ofdays.

The Table Chooser 6412 button provides a user interface for specifyingwhich demographic field or other parameter is of interest in theselected member data. For instance, one demographic field is totalpopulation 6413, which may be subdivided into Male population 6414 andFemale population 6415. In the associated table, each of thesepopulations is tabulated versus time of day, where both the raw numberand percent of total is presented. For instance, in cell 6417, the totalnumber of Females at the venue at 8:30 p.m. 6416 is 5, which correspondsto 56% of the total population of 9. Slider 6418 indicates there aresubsequent slides.

If the underline word Total in FIG. 64 is selected, the tabulated datais graphed, typically in a new window. This graph is similar to thegraph previously described in FIG. 30. The title is “Total: Members atMy Venue” 6500. The number of people 6502 is plotted on the ordinate;whereas, the time 6503 is plotted on the abscissa. The curve 6504designated by X is for Women; the curve 6505 designated by + is for Men;and the top curve 6506 designated by O is the total number of people.The legend 6501 is provided. At roughly 10:00 p.m. 6507 the number ofmen surpasses the number of women at the venue, and the number of womentakes a steep drop off around midnight 6508. Selecting the underlinedtext for Number of People, causes the ordinate to switch from “number ofpeople” to “percent of people”. Selecting Back 6509 causes the screen topresent the previous display.

FIG. 66 is a continuation of FIG. 65 where instead of total number ofpeople, Age 6600 and Age Range 6604 are the selected demographics totabulate (and potentially plot). Range 6605 is 21-24 years old; cell6606 says there are 4 people accounting for 20% of the population in the21-24 year-old range; cell 6603 says 34.3 is the average 6601 age at8:30 p.m. 6602. The slider is 6607.

FIG. 68 is a continuation where Salary 6800 is the selected demographic.Cell 6803 indicates that 7% of the member population at the venue at8:30 p.m. 6802 makes less than $50,000 per year 6801. The slider is6804.

FIG. 67 is a continuation where Music Preference 6700 is the selecteddemographic. Cell 6703 indicates that 45% of the member population atthe venue at 8:30 p.m. 6702 likes Hip Hop 6701. The slider is 6704.

FIG. 69 is a continuation where Distance Traveled 6900 is the selecteddemographic. Cell 6903 indicates that 30% of the member population atthe venue at 8:30 p.m. 6902 traveled less than one mile 6901. The slideris 6904. Other member demographics which a venue may wish to select totabulate or plot include: Education, Occupation, City, Interests, SportsPreferences, and the like.

FIGS. 70-75 provide illustrative fields for promotional activities. FIG.70 again displays the Venue Console, with focus this time on Promotions7000. In one exemplary embodiment there are three categories ofPromotions 7000: New 7001, Current 7002 and Expired 7003. The New 7001category assists a venue operator in defining a new promotion, includingselecting to whom it will be sent. The screen asks the venue to “SelectRecipients” 7004. At any time, the total selected recipients is tallied.In this example, the total is 21,969 7005. To limit the number ofrecipients, the venue may elect to send the promotion to everyone who'sredeemed an offer at their venue within some selected time frame 7006.The venue may also similarly limit the promotion to redemptions at anyvenue 7007, which is what is being done in this example. The slider is7008.

Similarly, the venue may limit the promotion to people who've attendedtheir venue 7000, or any venue 7001 in some previous time frame, asshown in FIG. 71. Similarly, the venue may limit the promotion to peoplewho've attended Happy Hour at their venue 7002, or any venue 7003. Theslider is 7004.

FIG. 72 allows the venue to further limit the number of promotionrecipients by member demographics 7200, such as Gender 7202, Age 7206,Distance 7207, whether the member's on the venue's VIP list 7209, thetype of Music they like, their Salary, Education, Occupation, Sportsinterests, Outdoor Activities, Other Interests, City, and the like.

Note: When one clicks on an underlined label followed by “ . . . ”, andfurther followed by a box with up/down arrows, they get a selection boxsimilar to what they get when one clicks on “To . . . ” while addressingan email in Outlook. Also, a check box is automatically unchecked if alist is specified.

FIG. 73 demonstrates how to Select a Promotion 7300. First the Type 7301is selected, such as: 2 for 1, Free, Discount, and the like. Next theitem 7304 the Type applies to is designated, such as All Drinks,Beer/Wine, Well Drinks, Admission, Food Item, Merchandise, and the like.Next, if appropriate, a Discount 7305 is selected, where the Discount7305 is specified in dollar amounts or percentage 7307. Typically aminimum is set for each to make sure a member gets a good offer and notjust a useless advertisement. The venue may also select that a discountonly applies to a second or lesser-priced item 7308. Short 7310 and long7311 logos may also be specified to be associated with the promotion.

In FIG. 74 allows the venue to select dates 7400 that the promotion issent out 7401, the promotion begins 7405, expires 7406, and whetherthere is a Recurrence 7407. Any of the type of date entry techniquesalready described or otherwise convenient may be employed. If the numberof recipients is greater than desired based on the other types oflimitations previously discussed, the venue may limit the recipients7408 by requiring that the promotion fit a budget 7409, that the numberof recipients not exceed a limit 7412, that the number of redemptions ofthe offer not exceed a limit 7415, and the like. Any number entered inbox 7412 is reflected in the line 7414. When all the promotionparameters are specified, the venue reviews the promotion 7416.

FIG. 75 displays a user friendly summary of the promotion in the area7500. The promotion can be saved 7501 for later, printed 7502, canceled7504, or submitted 7505, and the like.

FIG. 76 shows an exemplary social network website (e.g., Hoozware) Homescreen 7600 as displayed on a desktop computer for a guest visitor tothe website. In the example, the website Home screen presented to aguest provides limited capability compared to a signed-in member. Itshows the first still image 7601 of an introductory video animation, andit provides a real-time ranked list 7602 of Top Bars/Clubs using asearch with default preference criteria.

FIG. 77A shows an exemplary desktop Home screen for a signed-in membernamed Mark Smith 7700 (with Display Name “yurlyricsmymusic”). On asigned-in member's Home page 7701, in a box 7702 entitled “What Up” themember sees a summary of their offers 7703 at the current Hooz Time 7704(which is currently set to Now+projections), as well as their otheroffers later 7705 up to 4 am the following morning. These later offers7705 are listed in parentheses. The word, “Offers” 7706 may be a link tothe Offer Center which may list offers today, after today and beforetoday. The number of events 7707 occurring at the specified Hooz Time7704 are listed, as well as events starting later 7708 until 4 am thefollowing morning, which are listed in parentheses. The word, “Events”7709 may be a link to the Events Center, which may list events today,after today and before today.

In the example, the number of Plans 7710 for the member 7700 and theirfriends are listed. The word, “Plans” 7711 may be a link to the PlansCenter, which may list all plans for today, after today and before todayfor the member and their friends. The number of new messages 7712 forthe member is listed. The word, “Messages” 7713 may be a link to theMessages Center which lists all messages sent and received. The numberof new Friend Requests 7714 for the member is listed. The word, “FriendRequests” 7715 may be a link to the Friends Center which may display allor a portion of current social network friends, friend requests themember sent, and friend requests the member received.

The tab entitled “My Top Bars/Clubs” 7716 provides an exemplaryreal-time ranked list 7747 of venues that meet the member's specifiedinterests. “Venues” refers to places, typically where people aggregate,including but not limited to pubs, bars, restaurants, nightclubs, coffeeshops, cafes, and the like. In the example, the interests are specifiedby a filter called, “My Top Bars/Clubs Search” 7717, but the filter maybe named “My Top Places” or the like. For each venue 7718 in the list,the number of offers 7719 and events 7720 associated with a selectedtimeframe are shown under column headings of Offers 7721 and Events7722, respectively. The number of offers 7723 and events 7724 later thatday up to 4 am the following morning are shown in parentheses. Also, thenumber 7725 of each gender checked in, the average age 7726, and theirpossible classification as a friend (smiley face icon 7727) or CrushMatch (heart icon 7728) is indicated under the Hooz Here column heading7729. The consensus survey of crowd size 7730 and gender mix 7731, assubmitted by checked-in members, is listed under the column heading ofSurvey Sez 7732. The average review rating of each venue is listed underthe Review column heading 7733.

There is an exemplary column displayed along the right side of the webpage entitled, “Hooz Hot” 7734. This is an exemplary list of preferredphotos 7735, videos or other media concerning people, typically members,as voted on by the social networking membership. The photo, video, orother media listed at the top 7736 is the highest vote getter. Votingmay take place by someone clicking a “Vote Hooz Hot” button, clicking a“Like” button, or other convenient way to indicate approval, typicallywhile viewing, or shortly after viewing the photo, video, or othermedia.

Another exemplary column entitled, “Ware's Hot”, may be listed insteadof, or in addition to, “Hooz Hot” 7734. The Ware's Hot column listspreferred places as voted on by the membership. The “Ware's Hot” columnmay include list of preferred photos, videos, or other media concerningplaces, typically pubs, bars, restaurants, nightclubs, coffee shops,cafes, or other places where people aggregate, as voted on by the socialnetworking membership. The photo, video, or other media listed at thetop is the highest vote getter. Voting may take place by someoneclicking a “Vote Ware's Hot” button, clicking a “Like” button, or otherconvenient way to indicate approval, typically while viewing, or shortlyafter viewing the photo, video, or other media. Photos, videos, or othermedia shown in the Ware's Hot column may be provided by the venue, orthey may be taken and posted by a member, such as during the checkinprocess at that venue, or after redeeming a mobile coupon, or whenprompted, such as by a mobile communication device application. Thesubmission of photos, videos, or other media may be incentivized by thepromise of a reward. A reward may be a mobile coupon, the playing of agame which may also include a prize, social network honors, or any otherconvenient incentive.

A member redeeming a mobile coupon for a product, such as a drink orfood item, may be requested or required to take a photo, video, orprovide other media concerning the product. The photo, video, or othermedia may be required to be shared with Facebook, Twitter, or othermedia-sharing services. The photo, video, or other media may berequested or required to include the product and the member. If a photo,video, or other media is not taken or shared, the member may beprevented from accessing other features of the social network service(e.g., redeeming another mobile coupon) for a period of time or untilthe photo, video, or other media is taken or shared.

Master Controls can make it quick and easy to enable/disable importantfeatures with one selection. In the example, the member canenable/disable (1) mobile alerts 7737, (2) their checkin viewability byothers 7738, and (3) their participation in Crush Matching 7739, whichis a romantic dating service.

FIG. 77B shows the lower portion 7740 of an exemplary desktop Homescreen showing Bar/Club Updates 7741 and Member Updates 7742 in varioustabs. For instance, the Most Crowded tab 7743 lists from top to bottomthe venues with consensus surveys 7744 indicating the most crowed.Although a venue can be listed as having a “Packed crowd”, there are novenues with packed crowds in this example. There is one venue 7745 witha medium crowd 7746, so it is listed at the top.

FIG. 78A shows an example of a social network member's social networkfriends being organized into labeled “circles of friends” 7800. In thiscase, Mark's friend, Cindy Hartnell 7801, is already in his “DanceFriends” 7802 circle of friends. “Circles of friends” 7800 are aconvenient way to organize social network friends into meaningful groupsthat can be identified with a single label. Each circle of friends forthe social network can have different privileges and benefits. Friendsmay belong to multiple circles of friends. For instance, some circles offriends may be allowed to see when and where Mark is checked in, whileother circles might not. A first circle of friends may be allowed to seethat Mark checked into a first venue; whereas, a second circle offriends might not be allowed to see that Mark checked into the firstvenue. Similarly, the second circle of friends may be allowed to seethat Mark checked into a second venue; whereas, the first circle offriends might not be allowed to see that Mark checked into the secondvenue. A particular circle of friends may be selected by the circlelabel 7802 to receive an email message 7813 so each member in the circledoesn't need to be individually addressed to receive the email message7813, such as is shown in FIG. 78E. A selected circle of friends may beallowed to see a member's Crush Matching information.

FIG. 78B shows an example of how to add a social network friend to anexisting circle of friends 7804 and to create a new circle of friends7805.

FIG. 78C shows an example list 7806 of all or a portion of circles offriends for a particular social network member. Typically, a circle canbe deleted 7807 without deleting the individual members. A new circlecan be added 7808 and members assigned to the circle. Members of acircle can be added or deleted, in this example, after selecting thename of the circle, which is a link to a list of members in the circle.

FIG. 78D shows an example with two members 7809 in the “Dance Friends”circle 7810 of friends. For instance, this list of members is shown byselecting the “Dance Friends” link 7811 shown in FIG. 78C. Members canbe selected and deleted 7812 from this circle of friends.

FIG. 78E shows an exemplary benefit of using circles of friends where aparticular circle of friends may be selected by the circle label 7802 toreceive an email message 7813 so each member in the circle of friendsdoesn't need to be individually addressed to receive the email message7813.

FIG. 79 shows an example of how to specify a desired geographical region7900 of interest denoted by the Hooz City label 7901. Some regions havesub-regions which can be further selected with “Refine Location” 7902.Typically, data on the social network website or application thatconcern venues and other places is restricted to show only venues orother places relevant to the selected Hooz City 7901.

FIG. 80A shows an example of how to specify a desired timeframe ofinterest denoted by the Hooz Time label 8000. Desired timeframes forHooz Time may be for the present time 8001, or for the future 8002 orpast. Timeframes may be at a discrete moment in time, such as 4 pm, ormay cover a time range, such as 4-7 pm 8003. Typically when a Hooz Timeis selected other than “Now” 8004 or “Now+projections” 8005, all dataassociated with that timeframe is displayed in italics to draw attentionto the fact that the data isn't for “now”.

FIG. 80B shows an example of Hooz Time set to a future day, in this caseit is set to Sun, Jan. 29, 2012, 10 pm-2 am 8006 (i.e., 2 am thefollowing morning), which when selecting was also given a name of“Night”. Timeframes set to the future may cause associated data to bedisplayed in italics 8007. Actual offers 8008 and events 8009 scheduledfor the future timeframe are typically listed. Checkins, includingchecked-in friends 8010 and romantic interests (which are referred to as“Crush Matches” 8011), as well as the consensus survey for thattimeframe are projected based on prior data. For instance, data from theprior four weeks for that day and time may be used to project the datafor the same day and time of the subsequent week.

When Hooz Time is set to “Now”, typically all displayed data is realtime (or relatively recent), current and actual data. When Hooz Time isset to “Now+projections”, if a venue has no actual real-time datacorresponding to the present time, i.e., “Now”, but there is “projected”data based on prior weeks at a similar time for that venue, it will bedisplayed in italics 8007. This helps people viewing the website to getan idea about the “typical” crowd demographics and makeup at a venue fora particular time, even if there is no social network member checked inthere currently to provide the actual “Now” crowd survey.

FIG. 81 shows an exemplary member's list 8100 of other members who areromantic interests, which are referred to here as “Crush Matches” on the“My Crush Matches” tab 8101. Crush Matches are determined in real timeby a filter named, “My Crush Matches Search” 8102. Crush Matches who arechecked in currently at a venue have a check mark 8103 displayed aftertheir Display Names. The places where members are checked in can bemapped by selecting “Map Checkins” 8104.

The subject invention includes the use of a mobile communication deviceof a member of a social network to gather any of real-time demographicdata, real-time survey data, real-time characteristic data of a venue,real-time photos, real-time videos, or other real-time media of a venueor its customers, collectively referred to here as “Gathered Real-timeData”. The Gathered Real-time Data may be stored on a data server of thesocial network organization comprising the members.

The Gathered Real-time Data may be analyzed to provide “AnalyzedReal-time Data”. Such analysis may include determining the number ofmembers of each gender at the venue, the average age of members at thevenue, and whether a member has friends or romantic interests (e.g.,Crush Matches) at the venue. The Analyzed Real-time Data may be storedon the data server of the social network organization.

Data about which mobile coupons are available at the venue now and laterin the day, and which events are currently occurring or are scheduled tooccur later in the day (e.g., up to 4 am the following morning), isreferred to as “Offer/event Data”. The Offer/event Data may be stored onthe data server of the social network organization.

“Packet Data” includes at least a portion of Gathered Real-time Data,Analyzed Real-time Data, and Offer/event Data, and in particularincludes but is not limited to one or more of (1) the date and timeassociated with the data, (2) who is currently at the venue, which mayinclude the member posting the data as well as others there, where theothers there may be checked in or not, (3) the number of each genderchecked in, (4) the average age, (5) the number of friends (which may bedenoted by a smiley face icon), (6) the number of romantic interests(which may be denoted by a heart icon), (7) the crowd demographics,which may include the crowd size and gender mix based on surveys, (8)which mobile coupons are redeemable now and later in the day, (9) whatevents are occurring now and later in the day (or up to a time thefollowing morning, such as 4 am), (10) answers to other member surveyquestions, where exemplary answers to survey questions include “there isgreat live music”, “there is no cover charge”, “the appetizers aredelicious”, “the ballgame is on TV”, and the like, (11) photos, videos,and/or other media submitted by members, which may be submitted as partof the checkin process, and (12) results of games, such as asurvey-incentive bonus game, for instance “10 people just won theCheckin Bonus Game!”

The Packet Data may be stored on the data server of the social networkorganization.

Packet Data may be provided for display on a website, which may be thewebsite of a 3^(rd) party which is not the organization providing thesocial network service to which the members belong. That is, members ofthe organization providing the social network service may generatePacket Data that is of interest to others, and where the Packet Data themembers generate may be provided or otherwise shared with other media-or information-sharing services to expand the number of other peopleable to benefit from the Packet Data.

FIG. 82A shows an exemplary Offer Center 8200. In the exemplary OfferCenter 8200, when Hooz Time 8201 is set to “Now” or “Now+projections”8202, offers are classified as (1) Today 8203, (2) After Today 8204, and(3) Before Today. Offers for “Today” 8203 are sub-classified as (A)Valid Now 8205, (B) Later 8206, and (C) No Longer Valid 8207. When theHooz Time is set for a future timeframe, the naming convention isshifted accordingly.

FIG. 82B shows an exemplary offer description 8208, starting day 8209and time 8210, and ending day and time 8211 for a selected offer for aparticular venue.

An exemplary venue preview listing is displayed along the left side ofthe web page. Central to the preview is a boxed region entitled, “TheScene” 8212. It lists the offers 8213, events 8214, checkins by gender8215 and typical age 8216, and the consensus of surveys 8217 submittedcorresponding to the selected Hooz Time timeframe, which in this exampleis set to “Now+projections” 8218. The Scene may also include photos,videos or other media submitted by members who were at the venue andsubmitted photos, videos, or other media corresponding to the Hooz Timetimeframe. Other venue demographics and characteristics corresponding tothe Hooz Time timeframe may be included in The Scene. In general, TheScene may include all or any portion of Packet Data, and references toThe Scene data in the subject application may be replaced withreferences to Packet Data. When Hooz Time is set to “Now”, the data inThe Scene box is typically real-time information that is time sensitiveand can change quickly. If Hooz Time is set to another timeframe, thedata in The Scene box corresponds to that timeframe. Buttons 8219 arealso shown that produce desired actions for the venue.

FIG. 83A shows an exemplary Events Center 8300. In the exemplary EventsCenter 8300, when Hooz Time 8301 is set to “Now” or “Now+projections”8302, events are classified as (1) Today 8303, (2) After Today 8304, and(3) Before Today. Events for “Today” are sub-classified as (A) OccurringNow 8306, (B) Later 8307, and (C) No Longer Occurring 8308. When theHooz Time is set for a future timeframe, the naming convention isshifted accordingly.

FIG. 83B shows an exemplary event name 8309, event type 8310, eventsummary 8311, whether there's a cover charge 8312, and the starting day8313 and time 8314, and ending day and time 8315 for a selected eventfor a particular venue 8316.

FIG. 83C shows an example of what is displayed when “Add Plan on Event”8317 is selected in FIG. 83B. In the example, details concerning theevent are pre-filled 8318, and the member is prompted to add a comment8319. The plan can be posted to Facebook 8320, Twitter 8321 or othermedia-sharing services by checking the corresponding boxes 8323 beforeselecting “Submit” 8322.

FIG. 84A shows an exemplary Plans Center 8400. The exemplary plan addedin the example of FIG. 83C is shown at the top 8401 of the list.

FIG. 84B shows an example of what is shown when the comment field 8402for a plan in FIG. 84A is selected. The selected member's plan 8403 isshown, and their profile picture 8404 is shown near profile pictures ofother friends 8405 who have an overlapping plan, i.e., a plan for thesame venue 8406 where at least portions of the timeframes of the twoplans overlap.

FIG. 85 is an exemplary Messages Center 8500. In the example, membersshown on the left side 8501 of the web page are members the message camefrom. Members shown on the right side 8502 of the web page are membersthe message was sent to. Clicking on the text of the message 8503displays the full message and provides buttons to Reply, Reply-All, andCompose. Clicking on the profile picture 8504 of a member or themember's name 8505 displays the member's social network profile.

FIG. 86A shows three exemplary “find” features for finding a desiredvenue or list of venues. The first is “Lookup by Keyword” 8600, where aportion of the venue name, street or venue type is entered 8601. Thesecond is “Choose by Name” 8602, where each venue for a particular HoozCity is listed and selectable 8603. The third is “Search by Criteria”8604, where different desired venue criteria 8605 are selected. Thecriteria can also be specified as a “must have” or a “preference only”.To change one of the criteria 8605, the label 8609 is selected, e.g.,clicked with a mouse, and the criteria choices are displayed. When a setof various criteria is selected, that set can be saved 8606 with a nameto make it easy to select the same criteria in the future.

FIG. 86B shows an exemplary set of criteria 8607 named, “My TopBars/Clubs Search” 8608. This set of criteria corresponding to the name,“My Top Bars/Clubs Search” 8608, “My Top Places”, or similar concept,may be used on the Home page 7701 to determine in real time the list ofvenues under the “My Top Bars/Clubs” 7716 (or related name) tab. Tochange one of the criteria 8607, the label 8610 is selected, e.g.,clicked with a mouse, and the criteria choices are displayed andselectable.

FIG. 86C shows the rest of the column 8611 of exemplary search criteriathat can be selected.

FIG. 87A shows two exemplary “find” features for finding a desiredmember or list of members. The first is “Lookup by Keyword” 8700, wherea portion of the person's real name, display name, phone number or emailaddress is entered 8701. The second is “Search by Criteria” 8702, wheredifferent desired member criteria 8703 are specified. The criteria canalso be specified as a “must have” or a “preference only”. To change oneof the criteria, its label 8704 is selected, e.g., clicked with a mouse,and the criteria choices are displayed and selectable. After a set ofcriteria is selected, that set can be saved 8705 with a name to make iteasy to select the same criteria in the future from “My Member Searches”8706.

FIG. 87B shows an exemplary set of criteria named, “My Crush MatchesSearch” 8707. This set of criteria may be used on the Home page todetermine the list of members displayed under the “My Crush Matches” tab8105. To change one of the criteria, its label 8708 is selected, e.g.,clicked with a mouse, and the criteria choices are displayed andselectable.

FIG. 87C shows more 8709 of the exemplary column of search criteria thatcan be selected.

FIG. 88 shows a list 8800 of exemplary settings which are editable bythe member.

FIG. 89 shows a list 8900 of exemplary bar/club (a.k.a., venue) searchessaved as described in FIG. 86A. Typically any existing search other than“My Top Bars/Clubs Search” can be deleted 8901 and a new search can beadded 8902. Search criteria can be edited and saved after selecting thename of the search.

FIG. 90 shows an exemplary list 9000 of member searches saved asdescribed in FIG. 87A. Typically, any existing search other than “MyCrush Matches Search” can be deleted 9001 and a new search can be added9002. Search criteria can be edited and saved after selecting the nameof the search.

FIGS. 91A and 91B are exemplary editable mobile-alert settings foroccurrence of certain trigger events related to a social network ofmembers, including (a) member-trigger events such as members' actions,behaviors, states, and the like, and changes thereof; (b) venue-triggerevents such as venues' actions, behaviors, states, demographics,characteristics, and the like, and changes thereof; (c) other-triggerevents such as checkin eligibility, game eligibility, auto-checkoutwarning, plan reminder, and the like. The member may select and editmobile-alert settings that provide which events are trigger events. Adata processor receives indication of, or determines occurrence of, atrigger event. The data processor, which may comprise or access contactinformation and mobile-alert settings for members, then determineswhether to communicate an alert to the mobile phone of the member basedon the member's mobile-alert settings. The alert may be communicated tothe member's mobile communication device, which may be a mobile phone,using a variety of convenient communication means. Such communicationmeans include, but are not limited to a text message, including but notlimited to an SMS text message; a text-based message including but notlimited to a Push Notification as is available on many Smart Phones, oran email message; an image; a change in light on a mobile phone screenor other change in image; other visual alert; a haptic stimulationincluding but not limited to a vibration, force, jolt, orelectro-cutaneous stimulation; an auditory stimulation including but notlimited to a tone, buzz, chirp, music, recorded or synthesized sound orvoice; and the like. The social network may allow members to send eachother “friend requests” and accept received friend requests, therebybecoming “social network friends”. The social network may be a socialnetwork that does not provide special dating features.

FIG. 91A shows an example of how mobile alerts 9100 may be enabled9101/disabled 9102 and set up. A member may enable or disable all mobilealerts using a single action, such as toggling a button on their phone.The button on their phone may be a digital button displayed on theirphone, or it may be a physical button. A first member can set up mobilealerts on other member actions, such as checking in 9103, changing aplan 9104, and when another member messages 9105 or glances 9106 at thefirst member.

FIG. 91B shows an example of how mobile alerts 9107 may be set up forbar/club behaviors, such as a bar/club having an offer that becomesvalid soon 9108, crowds becoming packed 9109, or when they change ascheduled event 9110.

FIG. 92 shows an example of how checkin viewability 9200 may be enabled9201/disabled 9202 and set up. For example, one may allow specificindividuals 9203, categories of members 9204, friends 9205 and circlesof friends to see when and where they're checked in.

FIG. 93 shows an exemplary list 9300 of a member's own Crush Matchinginformation 9301 that is shown to other members who are Crush Matching.

FIG. 94 shows an example of how Crush Matching and viewability 9400 maybe enabled 9401/disabled 9402 and set up. For example, one may allowspecific individuals 9403, categories of members 9404, friends 9405 andcircles of friends to see their Crush Matching information, and they mayallow specific individuals, categories of members, friends and circlesof friends to see when and where they're checked in.

FIG. 95 shows exemplary contact information 9500 for a member that maybe edited 9501.

FIG. 96A shows the upper portion 9600 of an exemplary Home screen for asmart mobile-phone application (i.e., the “app”). In this example, theapp has a Checkin button 9601 that can access GPS or otherposition-sensing technology to locate the member and display a list ofvenues in the area. There is an Invite button 9602 to make it easy toaccess contacts on the phone to email or text message an invitation toothers to join the social network. There is a Like button 9611 to allowfollowing of Facebook, Twitter, and other media-sharing services. Thereare links to set the Hooz City 9603 and Hooz Time 9604 settings definedin FIGS. 79 and 80, respectively. When tapped, the Offers 9605, Events9606, Plans 9607, Messages 9608, and Friend Requests 9609 buttonsprovide similar functionality as the links and tabs of the same namesdescribed for the desktop website of FIG. 77A.

FIG. 96B shows the lower portion 9610 of the exemplary Home screen forthe smart mobile application. The buttons here provide similarfunctionality as the links and tabs of the same names described for thedesktop website of FIGS. 77A and 77B.

FIG. 97 shows some exemplary results 9700 of the real-time ranked My TopBars/Clubs list 9701, corresponding to the tab 7716 on the desktopwebsite shown FIG. 77A with the same name.

FIG. 98A shows an exemplary screen 9800 of the smart mobile applicationthat results from tapping the second listed entry of FIG. 97, i.e., for“The Milk Bar” 9702. In the example, there is a “Checkin Here” button9801 to make it easy to indicate one's presence by checking in at theMilk Bar. The white box 9810 of the app corresponds to the “The Scene”box 8212 of the desktop website of FIG. 82B and typically displays thesame data. When Hooz Time is set to “Now”, the data in The Scene box istypically real-time information that is time sensitive and can changequickly. If Hooz Time is set to another timeframe, the data in The Scenebox corresponds to that timeframe.

FIG. 98B shows the exemplary app Home screen scrolled down midway 9803to show the venue neighborhood 9804 and venue type 9805, a “map” link9806, and buttons 9807 that produce desired actions for the venue.

FIGS. 98C and 98D show the exemplary app Home screen scrolled down evenfarther 9808 to display background information 9809 for the venue. Incontrast to the real-time data displayed in The Scene box, thisbackground information 9809 for a venue that doesn't change frequently,and typically doesn't change over a 2-hour period, and typically rarelychanges daily, or even monthly.

FIG. 99 shows the exemplary app screen 9900 that is displayed afterpressing the “Checkin Here” button 9801 of FIG. 98A, or pressing theCheckin button 9601 of FIG. 96A and selecting The Milk Bar 9702. In theexample, in order to complete a checkin, typically two multiple-choicesurvey questions 9901 must be answered. In this example the questionsare (1) “Crowded?” 9902: Is the current crowd light, medium, or packed,and (2) “Gender Mix?” 9903: Is the current gender mix even mix, mostlymen, or mostly women? The submitted survey is combined with other recentsurveys from other checked-in members to provide a consensus survey thatis one data element of The Scene and of Packet Data. When the “CompleteCheckin” button 9904 is selected, all or a portion of Packet Data, suchas The Scene data, may be posted to the social network (e.g., Hoozware)for other members to see. All or a portion of Packet Data, such as TheScene data, can also be posted or otherwise shared with other socialnetworks such as Facebook 9905, Twitter 9906, and other media-sharingservices if the corresponding boxes 9907 are selected. All or a portionof Packet Data, such as The Scene data, may also be displayed on otherwebsites, local business listings, and the like, to let others knowwhat's going on around town right now or at some specified time ortimeframe.

FIG. 100A shows an exemplary Checkin Bonus Game 10000 that is anincentive and/or reward for completing the survey questions and checkingin. For the particular game shown, the member checking in selects one offour drink shakers 10001.

Real-time surveys may also be asked before or after a member checks in.For instance, one or more survey questions may be asked after checkingin, before checking in, after checking out, after redeeming a mobilecoupon, or at any convenient or appropriate time. The survey questionsare typically displayed on the member's mobile phone, but they may alsobe displayed on the member's desktop computer, tablet, or any otherconvenient computing device.

In order to encourage someone to answer a survey question, typicallythey are promised an incentive. The incentive may be a guaranteed mobilecoupon for a free or discounted product. The incentive may be a gamewith a chance to win a prize such as a mobile coupon for a free ordiscounted product. A benefit of using a game as the incentive is thatthe member is given a guaranteed reward, i.e., the game, but if themember doesn't win, the venue doesn't need to provide a prize such as acoupon for a free or discounted product. The game may be a game ofchance or skill. The game may be against other members each competing towin a prize, which may be the same prize or a different prize for eachmember.

An example survey question for a venue after a member has redeemed amobile coupon is, “How was your service”? Multiple-choice answers mayinclude, “poor”, “ok”, and “good”, and the like. Another example surveyquestion for a venue after a member has redeemed a mobile coupon is,“How was your food”? Multiple-choice answers may include, “warm”,“cold”, “greasy”, “good”, and the like. An example survey questionduring or after a band plays is, “Do you like the band”? Multiple-choiceanswers include, “no”, “ok”, “yes”, and the like. It is particularlyeffective and efficient to ask a member a survey question on theirmobile device while they're at a venue, just redeemed a coupon for aproduct, or when a particular event at the venue occurs or ends, or whenthe member is ready to leave or just left, and the like.

The venue may request a survey, the social network may request a survey,and 3^(rd)-parties may request a survey, and the like. The venue, thesocial network, 3^(rd) parties, and the like may provide incentives andprizes for their own survey questions as well as survey questions ofothers. It is particularly convenient and cost effective to ask thesurvey question on the member's phone, allow the member to play theincentivizing game on their phone, and allow the member to redeem ontheir phone any mobile coupon won. A mobile coupon given as a game prizemay be made to be valid immediately after winning the prize, or it maybecome valid at a future date to encourage a return visit by the winningmember.

FIG. 100B shows an exemplary game-winning selection 10002.

FIG. 101 shows an exemplary screen 10100 displayed on the app when the“Go to Prize Offer Now” button 10101 is selected in FIG. 100B. Thisexemplary app screen 10100 informs the member that the they will haveonly 5 minutes 10102 to use the coupon that is displayed after tappingthe “Display Coupon Now” button 10103. The time may be 5 minutes 10102(as shown), 10 minutes, any convenient time limit, no time limit, or avariable time limit for example where the time may depend on how busythe venue anticipates being on a particular day at a particular time.

FIG. 102A shows an exemplary mobile coupon 10200 displayed by the appafter tapping the “Go to Prize Offer Now” button 10101 in FIG. 101. Inthis example, the app displays a green un-torn coupon ticket 10201 thatis easy to recognize as being valid, the offer description 10202, theday 10203 and time 10204 the offer starts and the day and time 10205 theoffer ends. As shown, the coupon may also display the venue name 10206and “Redeemable Until” time 10207 that is a set time after the coupon isdisplayed for the first time. The Redeemable Until time 10207 istypically 5 or 10 minutes after the coupon is displayed the first time.In this example, the coupon includes instructions 10208 for how to useit. The waitstaff typically taps the “Confirm Offer Is Redeemed” button10208 or will instruct the member to tap it in order to redeem the greenun-torn coupon 10201 and display a red torn coupon 10209, indicatingthat the coupon is no longer valid.

FIG. 102B shows an exemplary redeemed coupon 10209 from FIG. 102A. Thecoupon typically is red and torn 10210 after the “Confirm Offer IsRedeemed” button 10208 is tapped in FIG. 102A, or automatically after 5or 10 minutes, to indicate the coupon cannot be re-used.

FIG. 102B shows exemplary links the app may display (shown in thisexample as red text) to “verify offer” 10211, to go to offers 10212 fromthe venue, and to go to the venue's (e.g., The Milk Bar's) profile page10214.

FIG. 103A shows an exemplary screen 10300 the app may display aftertapping “verify offer” 10211 in FIG. 102B. Multiple extension numbersare typically then displayed that may be selected at the waitstaff'sinstruction. In this example, the waitstaff instructed the member (i.e.,customer) redeeming the mobile coupon to verify the coupon redemption tothe particular waitstaff's extension number 7 10301. When the Verifybutton 10302 is selected, a summary of the redemption information 10303,including all or a portion of the information about the member whoredeemed it, when it was redeemed 10304, and what was redeemed 10305,may be sent to a display device that corresponds to extension 7. In atypical example, the display device corresponding to extension 7 is thewaitstaff's mobile phone, and the summary data is sent as a text messageor email. The correlation between extension numbers and display devicesis not known to the customer, and is typically configured by the venue.In this way, any waitstaff can confirm that a redeemed offer was validand sent out by their venue account, without telling the customer theirown personal mobile phone number or device contact information.

FIG. 103B shows an exemplary app screen 10303 on the customer's phoneafter the coupon has been verified.

FIG. 104 shows an exemplary Offer Center 10400 for the smart mobileapplication that corresponds to the desktop computer Offer Center 8200shown in FIG. 82A.

FIG. 105A shows an exemplary Facebook posting 10500 displayed on amobile device, where such posting typically occurs when the Facebook box9907 is checked before tapping “Complete Checkin” 9904 in FIG. 99.Typically, all or a portion of Packet Data, such as The Scene real-timeinformation 10501, is posted to the member's own Facebook wall and thenewsfeeds of their Facebook (or other media-sharing or social network)friends. If a photo, video, or other media and submitted as part of thecheckin process, the photo, video, or other media is typically includedin Facebook and Twitter posts, or shared with other media-sharingservices.

Facebook and Twitter posts are referred to in the subject applicationfor brevity; however, indicating a post or sharing to Facebook orTwitter anywhere in the subject application may be interpreted to meanposting or sharing to any desired website, business-listing website,mobile or other application, media distributor, media-sharing service,and the like, either in existence presently or that comes into being inthe future. Example popular media distributors and media-sharingservices in existence at the present time include, but are not limitedto Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Posterous, Picasa, YouTube,LinkedIn, and Foursquare.

As shown in FIG. 105A, a typical Facebook post 10500 includes real-timeinformation 10501 pertaining to the venue including Packet Data, and inparticular or one or more of (1) the date 10502 and time 10503 the datais associated with, (2) who is currently at the venue, which may includethe member posting the data as well as others there, (3) the number ofeach gender checked in 10504, (4) the average age 10505, (5) the numberof friends (e.g., denoted by the smiley face icon), (6) the number ofromantic interests (e.g., denoted by the heart icon), (7) the crowddemographics, which may include the crowd size 10506 and gender mix10507 based on surveys, (8) which mobile coupons are redeemable now10508 and later that day (e.g., up to 4 am the following morning), and(9) what events are occurring now 10509 and later that day. The Facebookposting may also include the answers to other survey questions, whereexemplary answers to survey questions include “there is great livemusic”, “there is no cover charge”, “the appetizers are delicious”, “theballgame is on TV”, and the like. Photos, videos, or other mediasubmitted by members, which may be submitted as part of the checkinprocess, are typically included in the Facebook post as well. Theresults of games, such as a survey-incentive bonus game, can be posted,such as “Jim just won the Checkin Bonus Game!”

FIG. 105B shows an exemplary desktop computer Facebook posting 10510corresponding to the smart mobile application posting 10500 of FIG.105A.

FIG. 105C shows an exemplary social network's (e.g., Hoozware's) desktopcomputer Facebook Fan page “reposting” 10512 of an individual's Facebookposting. Since the Facebook Fan page of the social network is typicallyvisible by anyone, FIG. 105C shows how the member's profile picture,name and other member-identifiable information may be replaced by a moregeneric image (e.g., the Hoozware logo 10513) and description to protectthe privacy of the member.

FIG. 105D shows an exemplary social network's (e.g., Hoozware's) desktopcomputer Twitter page “reposting” 10514 of an individual's Twitterposting. Since the Twitter page of the social network is typicallyvisible by anyone, FIG. 105D shows how the member's profile picture,name and other member-identifiable information may be replaced by a moregeneric image 10511 and description to protect the privacy of themember. A Twitter post typically includes real-time informationpertaining to the venue that is similar to a Facebook post, and maycontain any of the information described above for a Facebook post.Likewise, posts or sharing with other media-sharing services typicallyinclude real-time information pertaining to the venue that is similar toa Facebook post, and may contain any of the information described abovefor a Facebook post.

Since the information reposted to the social network's Facebook Fan pageand Twitter page are anonymized, data corresponding to any checkin,whether the Facebook or Twitter boxes were checked, may be posted to thesocial network's Facebook Fan page, Twitter page, or page or applicationof another media-sharing service without violating a member's privacy.

FIG. 106 shows an exemplary “Plan” 10600 posted to Facebook (or moregenerally, to any media-sharing service), such as typically occurs whenthe Facebook box 8323 is selected in FIG. 83C prior to selecting theSubmit button 8322. The plan post may include a variety of informationincluding but not limited to the member's identity 10601; the type 10602of an event the member is planning to attend (e.g., Happy Hour, a band,watch a sporting event on the TV there, and the like); the venue's owndescription 10603 of the event; the day 10604 and time 10605 the memberplans to attend a venue; a free-form comment 10606 by the member; all ora portion of Packet Data, such as The Scene information, includingmobile coupons and events scheduled to occur at the time the memberplans to be there or later in the day that the member plans to be there;and the like.

In the subject invention, systems and methods are provided forcollecting and analyzing real-time information, and providing theresult, which may include a projection or other Packet Data or SceneData, to one or more venue-information providers, which may includebusiness-listing websites, web pages, media providers, and the like.Members of an organization use their mobile communication devices toreport real-time demographic and characteristic information about avenue they're at. The collected information may include the day, dateand time associated with it, the number of each gender currently orrecently at the venue, an estimate of crowd size and gender mix, thenumber of friends there, the number of friends with plans to be there,the number of romantic interests, the typical age, game results, andanswers to survey questions. The information may include the offers andevents at the venue, and may include current or recent photos, videos,audio recordings, text-based messages, and other media.

FIGS. 107A-107C show an exemplary portion of Packet Data, such as TheScene data 10700, being displayed in various popular local businesslistings for a particular venue. Typically, such local business listingscontain static background information about the venue 10701, i.e.,information that doesn't change frequently, and typically doesn't changeover a 2-hour period, and typically rarely changes daily, or evenmonthly. By the addition of a portion of Packet Data, such as The Scenedata 10700, the business listing may become a real-time dynamic listingof who's there and what's happening there right now or recently,typically within the past two hours.

FIG. 107A shows an exemplary portion of Packet Data, such as The Scenedata 10700, embedded in a Google Places listing 10702. Similar toletting a user set Hooz Time on the Hoozware social network website, thetimeframe of interest may be allowed to be changed by thebusiness-listing viewer from the present time to a past or future timeof interest to the viewer. If there is no recent Packet Data, such asThe Scene data, for the currently selected timeframe, whether thetimeframe is “Now” or whether it is a past or future timeframe ofinterest, a projection of Packet Data may be substituted. Such aprojection may extrapolate or otherwise estimate Packet Data for theselected timeframe based on actual data points from similar orrepresentative days and timeframes from past data. Alternately, if thereis no recent Packet Data for the currently selected timeframe, then theday and time associated with embedded data may be automatically changedto reflect the time of the most recent or representative data that doesexit and which is then embedded and displayed for the correspondingvenue. The embedded Packet Data may auto-update a business listing webpage for a venue soon after real-time data is posted or shared by amember at the venue. Alternatively, there may be an indicator on the webpage that “New data is available” (or the equivalent) and an “Update”button for the business-listing viewer to press to have the web pageupdated with the new data that is available.

Real-time data that may be included in a business listing includes butis not limited to Packet Data, and in particular one or more of (1) thedate and time 10703 associated with the rest of the data, (2) who iscurrently at the venue, which may include the member posting the data aswell as others there, where the others there may be checked in or not,(3) the number of each gender checked in 10704, (4) the average age10705, (5) the number of friends (e.g., denoted by the smiley face icon10706), (6) the number of romantic interests (e.g., denoted by the hearticon 10707), (7) the crowd demographics, which may include the crowdsize 10708 and gender mix 10709 based on surveys, (8) which mobilecoupons 10710 are redeemable now and later that day (e.g., up to 4 amthe following morning), and (9) what events 10711 are occurring now andlater that day (e.g., up to 4 am the following morning). The dataincluded in the business listing may also include the answers to othermember survey questions, where exemplary answers to survey questionsinclude “there is great live music”, “there is no cover charge”, “theappetizers are delicious”, “the ballgame is on TV”, and the like. Photos10718, videos, or other media submitted by members, which may besubmitted as part of the checkin process, may be included in thebusiness-listing post as well. The results of games, such as asurvey-incentive bonus game, may be posted, such as “10 people just wonthe Checkin Bonus Game!”

When the Packet Data is provided by the social network organization to a3^(rd)-party website or application, the application or web server ofthe 3^(rd)-party website (the “Web Server”) may query the data server ofthe social network organization (the “Data Server”) for the Packet Data.Alternatively, the Data Server may send a message or an interrupt to theWeb Server indicating that there is new Packet Data available.Alternately, the Data Server may place the Packet Data into a memorylocation known by and accessible by the Web Server, and the Web Servercan check the memory location on it's own schedule or when informed thatthere is new Packet Data in the memory location.

To include real-time data gathered by the Hoozware social network into alocal business-listing website such as Google Places 10702, any of avariety of technologies may be used known to those skilled in the art.Some implementation options are as follows: (1) The Google web servermay make a software programming call to the Hoozware server software APIand request data. The Hoozware server then replies with a packet ofreal-time information that the Google web server may insert into the webpage it serves to the web browser client; (2) the Hoozware server maymake a software programming call to the Google web server software APIto let it know there is real-time data available and where to locate itin memory or on a network; (3) use a Hoozware iframe URL, similar to thetechnology that YouTube uses to embed videos; (4) make a Hoozwareplugin, similar to the technology used for Facebook Social Plugins,where the Google Places website user can sign in by clicking inside theHoozware plugin or signing in elsewhere inside the browser; and thelike.

If the viewer of the Google Places 10702 website links their account orotherwise associates their Google+ account with the Hoozware socialnetwork, and they are signed into their Google+ account when viewing theGoogle Places 10702 listing, a portion of Packet Data, such as The Scenedata and other real-time information, may include categorization ofwhich people who are checked in are Google+ friends (as indicated by thesmiley face icon which is typically yellow) and Crush Matches (asindicated by the heart icon, which is typically red).

FIG. 107B shows an exemplary portion of Packet Data, such as The Scenedata 10712, including a checkin photo 10719, similarly embedded in aYelp listing 10713.

FIG. 107C shows an exemplary portion of Packet Data, such as The Scenedata 10714, including a checkin photo 10720, similarly embedded in aFacebook Places listing 10715. If the viewer of the Facebook Placeslisting links their account or otherwise associates their Facebookaccount with the Hoozware social network (e.g., using “FacebookConnect”), and they are signed into their Facebook account when viewingthe Facebook Places listing, a portion of Packet Data, such as The Scenedata and other real-time information, may include categorization ofwhich of the people who are checked in are Facebook friends (asindicated by the yellow smiley face 10716) and Crush Matches (asindicated by the red heart 10717).

FIGS. 108A and 1088 show an exemplary Home page 10800 for a venue'saccount 10801 with the social network (e.g., Hoozware 10802). In theexample, various data are displayed including the campaigns 10803 andevents going on 10804, tabs listing everyone who has checked in there inthe past 10805, past surveys 10806, as well as reviews 10807. There arealso listed statistics for the number of people who have checked in thatday 10808 and the number of coupons redeemed that day 10809. New offercampaigns and events may be entered using the Campaigns 10810 and Events10811 links along the top. Past redemptions may be reviewed using theRedemptions link 18012. The Reports link 10813 provides analysis toolsfor providing lists and charts of demographic data and redemptions bypeople who have checked in, which may be plotted versus the day and timethey checked in or redeemed their coupons.

FIG. 108A shows an example of when the Hooz Visited tab 10805 selected.In the example, under the tab is listed in reverse chronological ordereveryone 10814 who has checked in together with their demographics data10815. If there is a check 10816 next to their name, they are stillchecked in. The profile pictures 10817 along the rightmost column are apictorial list of such prior checked-in members.

FIG. 108B shows an example of when the Survey Sez tab 10806 selected.The consensus 10818 of the member surveys is shown near the top of thetab, and the individual surveys 10819 are shown below. The consensustypically only includes surveys from a limited time ago, and where theolder surveys provide less weight to the consensus than more recentmember surveys.

FIGS. 109A-109D show exemplary tools 10900 for specifying a new offercampaign. FIG. 109A shows an example for naming of the campaign 10901,specifying a campaign code 10902, selecting the offer type 10903 andamount 10904, the offer item 10905 and notes 10906.

FIG. 109B shows an example of how to specify recipient limitations10907. The recipients may be limited by personal information such asdemographics 10908, interests 10909, income 10910, and the like.

FIG. 109C shows an example of how the recipients may also be limited bytheir behavioral information 10911 such as when they've visited 10912,whether they have alerts enabled 10913, whether they've done a searchfor the venue 10914, and the like. Recipients may also be limited by aguest list 10915 or if they're thought highly by others as determined bythe Hooz Hot ranking 10916. The maximum number of recipients 10917 for acampaign may also be limited.

The starting date 10918 and time 10919 and ending date and time 10920for an offer campaign may also be selected, along with when the couponsare first sent out 10921.

FIG. 109D shows an example for how recurrence patterns 10922 for thecampaigns may also be selected. If a recurrence 10923 is selected, “Howto Send Out Offer” 10924 may also be selected.

There typically are similar tools for specifying a new venue event.

It is evident from the above description that the subject inventionprovides for an effective and efficient way for people and venues tocommunicate for increasing the enjoyment of individuals in visitingvenues and for enhancing revenues received by the clubs. The ability toevaluate a particular venue before traveling to the venue encouragesindividuals to participate in the activities of the venues. Individualsare informed as to the demographics at a venue and available rewards atthe venue. The system provides for location based marketing and socialnetworking in a unique and more efficient way as compared to priormethods.

All publications and patent applications cited in this specification areherein incorporated by reference as if each individual publication orpatent application were specifically and individually indicated to beincorporated by reference.

Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail byway of illustration and example for purposes of clarity ofunderstanding, it will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill inthe art in light of the teachings of this invention that certain changesand modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spiritor scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for alerting an alerted memberassociated with a social network comprising members having mobilecommunication devices, said system comprising: a data processor, saiddata processor: accessing mobile-alert settings and contact informationof said alerted member; receiving indication of, or determiningoccurrence of, a trigger event related to said social network; andalerting said alerted member with their mobile communication device. 2.A system according to claim 1 wherein said mobile communication deviceis a mobile phone, said contact information includes the mobile phonenumber of said alerted member, and said data processor communicates atext message to said mobile phone to alert said alerted member.
 3. Asystem according to claim 1 wherein said trigger event relates to amember checkin or a checkout.
 4. A system according to claim 1 whereinsaid trigger event relates to a member location changing.
 5. A systemaccording to claim 1 wherein said trigger event relates to a memberwithin a limited location other than nearby.
 6. A system according toclaim 1 wherein said trigger event relates to any of a selected subsetof members or members passing a screen.
 7. A system according to claim 1wherein said trigger event relates to a venue within a limited locationother than nearby.
 8. A system according to claim 1 wherein said triggerevent relates to any of a selected subset of venues or venues passing ascreen.
 9. A system according to claim 1 wherein said trigger eventrelates to a message.
 10. A system according to claim 1 wherein saidtrigger event relates to a glance.
 11. A system according to claim 1wherein said trigger event relates to a review.
 12. A system accordingto claim 1 wherein said trigger event relates to an offer becomingvalid.
 13. A system according to claim 1 wherein said trigger eventrelates to a change in member demographic.
 14. A system according toclaim 1 wherein said trigger event relates to a plan changing.
 15. Asystem according to claim 1 wherein said trigger event relates to anevent changing.
 16. A system according to claim 1 wherein said triggerevent relates to a venue rank changing.
 17. A system according to claim1 wherein all mobile alerts are enabled or disabled with a single togglebutton.
 18. A system according to claim 1 wherein prior to said alertedmember being alerted, and after said mobile-alert settings are selectedby said alerted member to provide which events are trigger events, saiddata processor accesses said mobile-alert settings.
 19. A systemaccording to claim 1 wherein said alerted member is alerted at mostperiodically.
 20. A system according to claim 1 wherein a mobile alertrelated to a viewed member is added using a single action whileinformation related to said viewed member is displayed on said mobilecommunication device.